Investigation of user comfort in reinforced concrete school buildings; Hatay province example

Natural stones and mortars have been used as carriers in their shelters since ancient times by people. Since stones and mortars have high compressive strength and low bending and tensile strength, these materials were insufficient, and in time, concrete and reinforced concrete began to be used in building production with the search for new materials. The strong composite building material consisting of concrete and steel rods was called 'reinforced concrete', which means concrete equipped. Reinforced concrete was first used in the construction of boats in the late 19th century, followed by reinforced concrete houses and high-rise buildings. Especially in the 20th century, due to the rapid growth and wrong planning of cities, amorphous design and construction of buildings, and the unconscious use of reinforced concrete in these applications, a prejudice against reinforced concrete has emerged in society. Whether this prejudice is formed with the knowledge taught in the society is an issue that needs to be considered and investigated. In this study, the historical development of reinforced concrete and reinforced concrete school buildings was examined, questionnaire questions were prepared for fieldwork in order to investigate the cause of prejudice in society, and it was questioned whether reinforced concrete school buildings contributed to the comfort of the society. In the survey application, questions were asked to the teachers who gave education in reinforced concrete school buildings with a building age of less than 20 years and more than 20 years in Arsuz, Belen and İskenderun districts of Hatay province, and their opinions were taken. In the evaluation of the survey data, percentage and frequency analysis, reliability analysis, and independent two-sample T-test analyzes were applied. From the analyzes made, data related to the evaluation of the sample groups were obtained. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the users were not interested in the materials, they were interested in the old or new building, the satisfaction level was higher in the newly built school buildings, the dissatisfaction was not due to the reinforced concrete building but to the wrong planning.