When addressing accessibility in architecture, codes set the baseline, while design defines the ceiling. Although numerous guidelines exist, creating spaces for everyone goes beyond mere adherence to standards. It requires a deep understanding of the environment and a broad perspective, recognizing that what we design will be used by people with diverse bodies, abilities, and conditions far beyond those traditionally considered typical users.
Furthermore, designing environments poses the challenge of inclusivity, ensuring that individuals who do not fit the standard profile—such as people with disabilities, pregnant women, those using assistive devices, and individuals of varying ages, body types, etc—are not excluded. The principles of Universal Design, established in 1997 by the NC State University College of Design and led by Ronald L. Mace, offer a transformative perspective in this context. This approach influences various design fields, including the built environment, products, and communications. When applied to architecture, it fosters the creation of spaces that work for everyone, minimizing the need for adaptations or specialized design.
To explore these seven principles, it is crucial to ask the following question: What if we applied them to all projects? Imagine an environment where accessibility is not an add-on or a minimum requirement but an intrinsic feature from the outset, integrated into every design phase and across various typologies.
1. Equitable Use
"The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities."
The spatial configuration of buildings can lead to significant differentiations with a profound impact. For example, in some cases, the main entrance and the accessible doorway are not the same, creating an unequal user experience. Even so, these arrangements can result in a functional separation that, while sometimes addressing specific design needs, poses challenges regarding inclusivity and flow within the built environment.
The goal is to ensure equal access to all resources, such as work areas, restrooms, and auditoriums. Wherever possible, access should be the same for everyone. If this isn't feasible, the hierarchy should be equivalent. Differentiation should be avoided to ensure that all isoptic visibility, communication, privacy, and protection are equally provided. Additionally, the design should be attractive and consistent, demonstrating a genuine integration of all elements.
2. Flexibility in Use
"The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities."
Each person experiences the built environment uniquely. Therefore, designing with flexibility in mind is essential so buildings and interior spaces can offer multiple uses and accommodate individual preferences. Additionally, the diverse range of products and systems available enhances our ability to customize these spaces, enabling more precise and tailored configurations.
The spaces we design should allow people to interact in ways that suit their needs and pace. It’s important to remember that everyone has different walking speeds, strengths, and heights. This awareness and adaptability help us relate to our surroundings more comfortably. In this sense, the spaces and products we use can enhance our abilities and improve our daily experiences.
3. Simple and Intuitive Use
"The use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level."
Simplicity is a concept that plays a significant role in architecture, but achieving it requires profound effort. Beyond aesthetics, this principle focuses on making the environment easily understandable on a spatial level. How often have we encountered buildings where navigation is confusing, forcing people to seek assistance to find their way around?
To design simple and intuitive environments, it is crucial to reduce unnecessary complexity. The space itself, along with informative elements and furniture, should be organized clearly and suggest their use in an obvious way. These concepts not only facilitate a more accessible experience but also promote a smoother interaction with the environment, especially for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
4. Perceptible Information
"The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities."
Strongly tied to the previous point, perceptible information aims to enhance the understanding of space through sensory design. This information is communicated through audible signals, tactile paving, pictograms, and colors, indenting to orient, provide instructions, or alert users.
This principle promotes using various modes of communication, including pictorial, verbal, and tactile language, to present information redundantly through the senses. This approach maximizes legibility regardless of environmental conditions or individual sensory capabilities. Contrasting colors and textures are crucial for facilitating orientation and instructions. Additionally, the space should be compatible with various assistive devices, such as hearing loops, to enhance usability and understanding of the environment.
5. Tolerance for Error
"The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions."
Although we do not design to create unsafe spaces, some conditions may still present potential challenges. Therefore, applying the principle of tolerance for error involves organizing elements so that the most frequently used ones are the most accessible while dangerous ones are isolated. It is also crucial to discourage actions that require constant vigilance from others. This approach is especially relevant for light switches, open circulation areas such as corridors and ramps, swimming pools, access stairs, and high-altitude locations like balconies.
6. Low Physical Effort
"The design can be used efficiently, comfortably, and with minimum fatigue."
The way we interact with our environment depends significantly on our physical capabilities. Consequently, a design that is difficult to use can become a barrier. To facilitate smoother interactions, the design should support a neutral body posture, require minimal operating forces, minimize repetitive actions, and reduce sustained physical exertion. This approach ensures that activities are performed with minimal impact, promoting the health and well-being of the user.
Minimizing physical effort can be achieved by designing spaces with minimal level changes and gentle slopes, using ergonomic furniture, installing lever handles on doors and faucets, installing contactless switches for lighting, and incorporating mechanical circulation elements such as elevators and escalators.
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use
"Appropriate size and space are provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of the user's body size, posture, or mobility."
Since each person has unique characteristics and needs, our demands for reach and mobility vary considerably. Neufert's work in standardizing architectural dimensions serves as an example in this context, as it provided crucial anthropometric references, particularly for people using wheelchairs. This research laid the groundwork for expanding our approach to accommodate broader conditions, body types, and heights.
To ensure an effective interaction, it is essential to consider several aspects, including providing a clear line of sight to relevant elements for both seated and standing users and facilitating access to all components in both positions. Additionally, the small-scale design must accommodate variations in hand size and grip and provide adequate conditions for assistive devices. These considerations enable all users to interact with the environment in a comfortable and accessible way.
While each of the principles of universal design is compelling and necessary in its own right, the real challenge for architects is to integrate them seamlessly and simultaneously into the overall design. The maxim that "the best accessibility is the one that goes unnoticed" resonates strongly in this context. Furthermore, since good architecture embodies inclusivity, it is crucial to acknowledge that accessibility is essential to this inclusiveness. If we aspire to create a society and built environment that are universally welcoming and inclusive, why not recognize that designing for everyone is a fundamental aspect of architecture?
