Design for Cleanability: understanding how physical design characteristics of domestic spaces impact the household cleaning experience

Cleaning is a necessary chore in all homes. Whilst the pandemic has firmly associated cleaning with surface disinfecting; cleaning– as practiced in the home environment– is a collection of different tasks that interact with the three-dimensional space. In many specialist environments such as commercial food preparation and healthcare, cleanability is a regulated design requirement. Yet, in the domestic setting, cleanability is not a quality that most architectural or interior designers strive for. Indeed, the impact of design on cleaning is not well understood. However mundane, cleaning takes time, such that the amount of time spent doing it is an indicator of quality of life, especially for women – who still carry out the majority of housework in the UK and shoulder increased cleaning chores since COVID-19. Market research indicated that almost half of the UK adults felt that keeping the home clean is stressful. Yet not all households can afford to outsource cleaning, which is especially sensitive to the cost-of-living crisis. The ability to perform basic home-cleaning is also a requirement for older people (who cannot afford cleaning services) to age-in-place and live independently. Still, for the most part, the narrative of cleaning in the domestic sphere is dominated by products and know-hows, not the design characteristics of the physical space itself. This project aims to examine and elucidate how the design of our homes impacts their cleanability. Specifically, two key questions are explored. First, what attributes – beyond the time required to perform the task – make up the quality of “cleanability” in the home environment? This line of enquiry examines the household cleaning experience as a person-environment transaction where the process (the experience) is valued as much as the end result (getting the cleaning done). Second, what design characteristics positively or negatively contribute to the cleaning experience? How do these characteristics vary by room functions or occupant needs? As a pilot focusing on the UK context, this project tackles these questions first through a series of semi-structured interviews with professional domestic cleaners in the Midlothian region who have experiences cleaning different housing types. Then, a number of households in Edinburgh will be recruited to share their cleaning experiences via a walk-through of their homes and cleaning routines. A subset of resident participants will be shadowed during one of their cleaning routines where difficulties in their cleaning experiences can be observed and mapped to design details. This project has two objectives: (1)To investigate and develop the concept of “cleanability” based on household cleaning experiences; and (2)To construct a taxonomy of design characteristics that contribute to (or hinder) the cleanability of domestic spaces. As the first investigation into the relationship between design characteristics of domestic spaces and residents’ cleaning experience, this project will contribute to better design guidelines that can help modify or create living spaces that reduce the burden of cleaning and home maintenance, and thereby support ageing-in-place and make the familiar chore a more efficient and enjoyable experience for all who do their own cleaning and are time-poor.