On Tuesday 2 February, Thomas Hamlett wrote:
"I think ... that stadium architects should be taken to task for their poor designs.
In Los Angeles wheelchair users are stuck in the end zone - no matter whether
you are a student and would rather be in the student section with
your peers or a wealthy alumni and have the financial ability to pay premium
seating."
I think this is a really significant example of how the built
environment can disable and exclude people. I am a third year student of
architecture and am currently writing a related lengthy dissertation on architects'
understanding of disability (typically medical), how this translates
negatively into their approaches to building design and does NOT
inspire an inclusive or barrier-free built environment, and -
principally - how we could challenge "design apartheid" (Imrie) by
re-educating design STUDENTS; nipping the problem in the bud,
perhaps.
If any of you personally feel firstly that architecture students
SHOULD actively learn about access and disability issues
(they generally don't ... but surely should be familiar with ALL
users' needs) - and secondly, if you believe that particular methods of
teaching/training/re-educating would be especially succesful in
effecting change in architects' attitudes and design approaches ...
PLEASE get in touch. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to simply
theorise on this; I would love to know what people REALLY think and
want. Many thanks.
Best wishes,
Zoe Holland
([log in to unmask])
student of architceture (third year)
University of Sheffield
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