Universal Design in the Marine Environment
From Along the Shore to Offshore
Stephen M. Spinetto, Mayor's Office, City of Boston, USA
Janice Tuck, Princess Cruise Lines & Vice-Chair, United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, USA
The marine environment is unique, both along the shoreline and offshore on passenger vessels. City waterfronts have become major recreational and cultural venues. Cruise ships have become important vacation destinations worldwide, particularly for persons with disabilities. Increasingly water transportation is supplementing other mass transit systems. Designing in the marine environment requires taking into account the weather wind and tide and the constantly changing and frequently hostile environment.
Designing for shipboard life presents many challenges. The basic requirement of ship design "to keep water out of the ship and the ship on top of the water" results in barriers that until recently also keep all but the most able bodied from getting around on board a ship. Doorways were narrow and had very high thresholds (sometimes as high as 18"), and except for the very largest passenger vessels had no provision of lifts or elevators between decks. To make matters even worse there were few, if any, level surfaces on board vessels because of the long established design principles that had always promoted sloped decks, for both practical and aesthetic reasons. Individuals with disabilities who were required to take a journey aboard ship had very difficult passages indeed.
Even before the advent of the ADA, the cruise industry began making modifications to ships primarily because of marketing and economic reasons. It was clear to the ship-owners that a large segment of the population that did or wished to take cruise vacations would benefit from design features that allowed a broader segment of the population to move about their ships with more independence.
We will undertake an all day Intensive workshop, including a design charrette, working with a locally based partner. The workshop will begin with a session on basic design principals of passenger vessels, including marine nomenclature (a language on its own). The workshop would include a working session aboard a passenger vessel. The workshop would include three phases as outlined below.
- Opening session at the Sofitel Conference Center reviewing principals of marine design, both of shipboard and onshore facilities, discussing the basic safety and environmental restrictions in marine design. This session will include a presentation on best practices, from small passenger vessels to large ocean going vessels, and even tall ships designed to universal design standards, and onshore waterfront facilities. We will also review the US Access Board's Passenger Vessel Design Guidelines. Examples will be presented of waterfronts designed to provide for a broad range of users will be explored, including examples of recreational programs that provide accessible to everyone sailing, windsurfing, and other water based activities
- A field exercise reviewing a marine terminal and time aboard a passenger vessel discussing the accessibility features or the lack of them.
- A design charrette allowing the participants to try their hand at designing modifications of a passenger vessel and an onshore facility to universal design standards. The session will finish up with an informal 'jury' and 'awards' for the best finished designs.
The most likely venue for the field exercise would be the Niteroi Ferry and terminal, which runs from Praca 15 de Novembro in the centro District. (See Map Below)
|
|
The Development of US Passenger Vessel Design Guidelines
As more and more persons took to the sea the US Access Board realized that a common set of design guidelines were needed. In August 1998, the Board created the Passenger Vessel Access Advisory Committee to provide recommendations for a proposed rule addressing accessibility guidelines for newly constructed and altered passenger vessels covered by the ADA. This committee explored ways to achieve access in view of various design considerations and made recommendations that the Board will use in proposing guidelines. Identifying the types of vessels to be addressed was also part of the committee's mission. A wide variety of vessels were taken into consideration, from those used primarily for transportation, such as ferries, to those used for recreation or other purposes, such as gaming boats, cruise ships, and sightseeing boats.
Presenter Biographical Sketches
Janice Tuck:
Ms. Janice Tuck is the Access Manager For Princess Cruise Lines and serves as Chair of the US Access Board; Ms Tuck also serves on the US Access Boards Passenger Vessel Advisory Committee.
Stephen M. Spinetto:
Mr. Stephen Spinetto is the Commissioner, of the Boston Commission for Persons with Disabilities. Mr. Spinetto is also an adjunct faculty member at the Sawyer School of Public Management at Suffolk University.
Mr. Spinetto also served as Chairman of the US Architectural Transportation Barriers Compliance Board / Passenger Vessel Advisory Committee
In 1984-1985 Mr. Spinetto were a Loeb and a National Endowment of the Arts Fellow in Advanced Environmental Design at the Graduate School of Design Harvard University.
Mr. Spinetto is a board member of the Access Sport America Foundation. Mr. Spinetto was Chairman of the National Ocean Access (NOAP) from 1986-1994, was Captain of the United States Disabled Sailing Team, from 1989-1992, and was the United States Olympic Committee Technical Representative for Yachting to International Paralympics Committee from 1992-1996