Incorporating Exceptions: Re-Linking Environmental and Accessible Design in Practice
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Date
2020
Authors
Moody, Jed Myron
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Historically in architecture, designers had fairly similar approaches to design practices regarding both people with disabilities and the natural environment surrounding the space. Examining early historical construction as well as vernacular solutions in writings like Bernard Rudofsky’s Architecture Without Architects shows humanity’s propensity to live in within and around their natural surroundings and overcoming the physical challenges of navigating these spaces without the benefit of modern technological innovation. In the last two hundred years, we have still approached design problems with the intent to solve the problems imposed by the environment on people of all abilities, but the ways that designers and the public receive and think of these two challenges has shifted drastically. In contemporary society, clients may request varying degrees of sustainable measures in their buildings. Because the public takes a keen interest in how designers are respecting the environment in their buildings, and because institutions exist solely to rate building performance based on their sustainability metrics, these clients want to ensure their building is well received and so look to add these features or receive sustainability certification. Contrary to all of this, while regulations exist in many countries today to ensure that public spaces are accessible to people with disabilities, accessibility features are often treated as secondary aspects when compared to the broader vision of a building’s form and function, and they can added on last-minute to comply with construction regulations without necessarily respecting the spirit of said regulations. This practice of nondiscrimination still sends a discriminatory message to anyone who does not fit the stereotype of an able-bodied individual that they are of secondary or lesser importance to their societies. This thesis examines the relationship of the history of disability and environmental design conditions to determine the underlying factors that motivate designers for each and applies these conclusions to contemporary society to propose a new series of design consideration and practices that would create a practice for disability design that enhances built environments for all users without discriminating against any group of people of different abilities.
Description
70 pages
Keywords
Architecture, Architecture Design, Architecture History, Sustainable Design, Universal Design, Accessible Design, Historic Architecture, LEED, LBC