Much has been written and said about the concept of Universal Design and most of it is confusing and often counter intuitive. The reason that the gross weight of what has been published is centered in the single family home environment is that the concept lacks or rather the publishers miss the core value of UD. Ron Mace wrote about and thought about UD because he was a person with a disability. The concept was supposed to make the world a better place to live by using good design to implement accessibility standards. UD is not and was never meant to be a standard in and of itself. UD is a way of thinking, a mind set, developed to help designers who knew and still often know very little about the world of disability.
The reason much is written about single family and very little about multifamily in the world of UD is that multifamily has standards and single family has none. If the writer tries to unravel the question of, “How does UD relate to ANSI A 117.1 or UFAS?” immediately the question of fit pops up. Where does UD fit in the standards? Is it UFAS lite? Or maybe its ANSI on steroids? Kentucky HFA published an attempt a few years ago to settle UD somewhere between the two and frankly the effort was confusing and more often misleading.
Here’s why. UD is not the “What” of design. It’s the “How.” The prevailing standard describes what must be done, if anything. UD describes how to implement good design to make the “What” more esthetic or more usable by a greater number of people.
My favorite example is standard 4.19.4 EXPOSED PIPES AND SURFACES in the UFAS standards. It requires that hot water and drain pipes under lavatories shall be insulated or otherwise covered. There shall be no sharp or abrasive surfaces under lavatories. This standard can be met by wrapping the pipes in fiberglass pipe insulation or by using a UD feature such as a rear drain sink that will allow the pipes to be recessed and hidden behind a valence. The former is crude and offensive the latter good design.
Having said that, there are many UD features that have no corresponding standard in either ANSI or UFAS. They simply make the built environment more user friendly, a small ledge outside the front door on which to rest your packages while you fumble for your keys. UD is about design, about how to create environments that interface better with humanity, all humanity, not just able bodied ones or tall ones or ones of standard build and width. If the designer embraces the seven elements of UD and understands that it is the “How” of design not the what then all the other peculiarities begin to make sense and fall neatly into place.
Standards are standards and they are important. They keep everyone coloring inside the line. The concepts embraced by Universal Design are more important than standards they impose taste and common sense where standards cannot. I visited an 811 project in Chesapeake Virginia a while back. There were no cabinets under the counter top in the kitchen. It was roll under everywhere. Nice for people who use a wheelchair as their primary means of mobility but where do store the knives and forks? Universal Design would encourage some roll under areas and some place for cabinets. There would be some work areas lowered so people using wheelchairs could work comfortable but since not everybody uses a wheelchair there would be some conventional working heights as well.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
