Architectural Quality in Universal Design and Housing
A Study of the Importance of User Involvement in the Application of Universal Design and Access in Housing Design
Camilla Ryhl, Ph.D., Architect maa, Ed Roberts Post Doctoral Fellow, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen & UC Berkeley, USA
Abstract
This project discusses and documents the importance of user involvement in the design process and the need for architects to apply universal design in housing design in order to assure high quality of usability, access and architecture in housing.
It is an empirical study based on in-situ case studies of existing accessible housing in the Bay Area, California, and as an architectural research project it includes registration and analysis of existing accessible homes in the Bay Area, California and qualitative interviews with users and architects experienced in the process of involving users in the design of housing. The study is still on going.
Paper
The design of our home environment is decisive to our level of independence and quality of life, and the need to increasingly design accessible and inclusive housing is urgent and rapidly growing. Architects and design practitioners need to assume responsibility for this important design issue, as well as strengthen their understanding and knowledge of the individual needs of users with diverse disabilities or impairments.
This research project regards universal design as an inclusive design concept enabling people to live independently and documents 1) the need and reasons for architects to apply universal design in housing design and 2) the importance of user involvement in the design process in order to assure high quality of usability, access and architecture in housing.
The importance of dialogue between user and practitioner can not be sufficiently emphasized in order to assure housing design of high architectural quality. The experience and tacit knowledge offered by users to the design of our physical environment is vital to the concept of universal design, and to the process of expanding the understanding, knowledge and use of universal design in our everyday living environment, and in housing in particular.
There is a long standing tradition in the field of industrial design of including user responses and evaluations early in the design process, but in housing design this dialogue is rare, and often regarded as costly, and unnecessary. But how are we as architects supposed to design truly universal housing without involving the people we are designing for - the users themselves.
It is urgently important to bridge the gap between architect and user and when possible demonstrate that the dialogue between the two is of mutual interest and benefit to both parties, their individual interest in housing design and very importantly the quality of the final design. It is a matter of proving how valuable this collaboration between two experts can be and how only in synergy may they together truly improve the quality of housing design.
Through qualitative interviews and on-site case studies of existing accessible housing in the Bay Area, California the importance of user involvement in the design of inclusive and accessible housing of high architectural quality is documented. The area offers a significant number of accessible housing examples and design processes involving users due to the large number of disabled persons having lived here more than thirty years, and the long term consequences of the research problem are therefore available. Often architects, designers and contractors have been involved in the process, and suggested solutions have been discussed, tested and studied by individually established groups of members of the community, and significant knowledge, experience and awareness therefore exist within this particular community. Countless examples of beautiful homes and incorporated non-stigmatizing universal design are found here. Architects and designers must learn from this tacit knowledge, draw from the experience already gathered and strengthen the method and use of dialogue between practitioners and the real experts, the users themselves.
A study like this has not been conducted before and will bring new essential and unique knowledge to the field of architecture and disability studies. By bridging the gap between architects and users the long term beneficiaries of the project are not only practitioners and the architectural profession but most importantly people living with a disability or impairment.
Through studies of existing examples of housing designed in collaboration between actively involved users and experienced architects it is possible to learn what works and what doesn't work in the process of improving this design approach. Useful guidelines for dialogue between practitioner and user can be developed by collecting experience and illustrating both the process and final results. At present guidelines particularly developed for user involvement and dialogue in relation to universal design in housing design does not exist.
Existing and ongoing research involving users in design processes tends to focus on a specific product or design problem, while a study of the influence of the actual dialogue itself on the final design and the long term consequences for the users choice to live an independent life seems still unfolded and in need of thorough research.
By studying this process and on going dialogue as well as existing housing examples as a result of this particular approach to housing design, it is the intention to develop a set of Guidelines for User Involvement in the Application of Universal Design and Access in Housing Design, that may contribute to disseminating and sharing the successful outcome of the ongoing process found in the Bay Area and Berkeley.
Examples of accessible housing in Berkeley, California:
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