international

ISSN O168-2601

vol. 38 n o.1 20 13

open house international

open house

w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m

THEME ISSUE

Built Environments for Special Populations Guest Editor: D r. M a g d a M o s t a f a Department of Construction and Architectural Engineering The American University in Cairo Egypt

Disability Inclusive Design Mass Customization Pre-Fabricated Housing University Campuses Visual Impairment Tactile Surface Indicators Ageing Populations Elderly Friendly Environments

international

www.openhouse-int.com

Eastern Mediterranean University, Mersin 10, Turkey and at Development Planning Unit, University College London, 34, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ, Great Britain

Vol 38 No.1 2013 ISSN 0168-2601

open house

In this issue: Afacan, Demirkan, Eid, Friedman, Heylighen, , Mishchenko, Mostafa, Sprecher, Van Doren, Vermeersch.

El s e v i e r S c o p u s Thomson ISI Arts & Humanities EB S C O p u b l i s h i n g a CIB encouraged journal

w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m The journal of an association of institutes concerned with the quality of built environment. The publishing framework is shaped around the forces which act on built environment, which maintain, change and transform it. The content consists of articles which deal with these issues and in particular with responsive, self-sustaining and re-usable environments which have the capacity to respond to change, provide user choice and value for money.

Director & Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Wilkinson, RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, Northern Cyprus. DPU Associate, University College London, UK. [email protected]

Collaborating Editor Dr. Ashraf M. Salama, Department of Architecture & Urban Planning, Qatar University, Qatar. [email protected]

BOARD OF EDITORS Dr.Iftekhar Ahmed, RMIT University, Australia.

Prof. Nabeel Hamdi, Professor Emeritus, Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Dr. Zainab F. Ali, University of Damman, Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Sebnem Önal Hoskara, Eastern Mediterranean University, Northern Cyprus.

Dr. Robert Brown, University of Westminster, London, Great Britain. Prof.Marta Calzolaretti, Housing Lab, Sapienza Universita di Roma, Italy. Dr. German T. Cruz, Ball State University Muncie, USA. Carla Corbin, Department of Landscape Architecture, Ball State University, USA. Ype Cuperus, Delft University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands.

Prof Anthony D C Hyland, Consultant in Architectural Conservation and Heritage Management, Durham, UK Dr. Mahmud Mohd Jusan, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Ripin Kalra, University of Westminster, and . (WSPimc), London.

Dr. Masa Noguchi, MEARU, Mackintosh School of Architecture, UK. Prof. Ibrahim Numan, Fatih Sultan Mehmet University, Turkey. Dr. Yara Saifi, Al Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine. Prof. Paola Somma, University of Venice, Italy. Prof. Jia Beisi, University of Hong Kong. Dr. Peter Kellett, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain.

Dr. Ayona Datta, University of Leeds, UK.

Dr. Stephen Kendall, Ball State University Muncie, Indiana, USA.

Dr.Md Nasir Daud, University of Malaya, Malaysia.

Prof. Bob Koester, Ball State University Muncie, USA.

Forbes Davidson, Institute of Housing & Urban Development Studies, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Prof. Roderick J. Lawrence, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

Diane Diacon, Building and Social Housing Foundation, Coalville, Great Britain.

Dr. Fuad Mallick, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Prof. Amos Rapoport, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, USA.

Prof. Yurdanur Dulgeroglu-Yuksel, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Prof. Andrea Martin-Chavez, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico.

Prof. Seiji Sawada, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan.

Dr. Bruce Frankel, Ball State University Muncie, USA.

Dr. Magda Mostafa, Associate Professor, The American University in Cairo, Egypt

Prof. Avi Friedman, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Babar Mumtaz, DPU, University College London, London, UK.

Catalina Gandelsonas, University of Westmister London, Great Britain.

Geoffery Payne, GPA Associates London, Great Britain.

Dr. Ahmed Abu Al Haija, Philadelphia University, Engineering & Architecture Department, Jordan.

Dr. Sule Tasli Pektas, Bilkent University, Turkey.

Prof. Keith Hilton, Mansle, France.

Prof. Gulsun Saglamer, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr. Karim Hadjri, University of Central lancashire, UK.

Technical Editing Cover Design Subscriptions Published by Printing Cover Image Web Manager & DTP Work

: : : : : :

Dr. Mark Napier, Urban LandMark, Pretoria, South Africa.

open house

open house

Dr. Omar Khattab, University of Kuwait. Dr. Levente Mályusz, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Hungary.

Dr. Florian Steinberg, Asian Development Bank, The Philippines. Dr. Inga-Britt Werner, The Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden. Prof. H. J Visscher, OTB, Delft Univertsity of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Patrick Wakely, Professor Emeritus, University College London, UK. Dr. Christine Wamsler, University of Manchester, UK and University of Lund, Sweden.

Yonca Hurol, Eastern Mediterranean University, Mersin 10, Turkey. Esra Can, Emre Akbil, Eastern Mediterranean University Mersin 10 - Turkey. [email protected] C. Punton, P.O Box 74, Gateshead,Tyne & Wear, NE9 5UZ, Great Britain. [email protected] The Urban International Press, P.O Box 74, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE9 5UZ, Great Britain. Printed by Eastern Mediterranean University Print House, Gazimagusa, Mersin 10, Turkey By courtesy of Ann Heylighen et al in Enriching our Understanding of Architecture through Disability Experience,Figure10 Page 14. : Emmanuel Tibung Chenyi, Eastern Mediteranian University, Mersin 10, Turkey. [email protected]

Delft University of Technology Department of Housing Quality and Process Innovation OTB Research Institute of Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies Jaffalaan 9, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands (Henk Visscher) [email protected] www.otb.tudelft.nl The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Division of Urban and Regional Studies, School of Architecture & the Built Environment, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden. (Inga-Britt Werner) [email protected] www.infra.kth.se/BBA McGill University School of Architecture, Macdonald Harrington Building Centre for Minimum Cost Housing Studies, 815, Sherbrook Street West. Montreal, PQ. Canada H3A 2K6. (Avi Friedman)[email protected] www.homes.mcgill.ca Ball State University College of Architecture & Planning, Muncie, Indiana, 47306, USA. (Stephen Kendall) [email protected] www.bsu.edu/cap The Development Planning Unit University College London. 34, Tavistock Square London WC1H 9EZ. (Caren Levy) [email protected] www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu HousingLab Dipartimento di Architettura, Ateneo Federato delle Scienze Umane delle Arti e dell'Ambiente, SAPIENZA Università di Roma, Roma, Italy. (Marta Calzolaretti) [email protected] http:w3.uniroma1.it/housinglab The Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh School of Archirecture MEARU, 176 Renfrew Street Glasgow G3 6RQ. Great Britain (Masa Noguchi) [email protected] www.gsa.ac.uk Budapest University of Technology & Econ. (BME) Faculty of Architecture Budapest, Muegyetem rkp. 3. 1111 Hungary. (Levente Malyusz) [email protected] www.bme.hu Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Resource Development Division, Perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) 81310 Skudai Johor, Malaysia. (Anuar Talib) [email protected] http://portal.psz.utm.my/psz/ Philadelphia University, Engineering & Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering, P.O Box 1, Jordan. (Ahmed Abu Al-Haija) [email protected] www.philadelphia.edu.jo/content/view/448/590/

Aims The Open House International Association (OHIA) aims to communicate, disseminate and exchange housing and planning information. The focus of this exchange is on tools, methods and processes which enable the various professional disciplines to understand the dynamics of housing and so contribute more effectively to it. To achieve its aims, the OHIA organizes and co-ordinates a number of activities which include the publication of a quarterly journal, and, in the near future, an international seminar and an annual competition. The Association has the more general aim of seeking to improve the quality of built environment through encouraging a greater sharing of decision-making by ordinary people and to help develop the necessary institutional frameworks which will support the local initiatives of people in the building process.

Open House International The journal of an association of institutes and individuals concerned with housing, design and development in the built environment. Theories, tools and practice with special emphasis on the local scale. University of Malaya, Faculty of Built Environment, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Md Nasir Daud) [email protected] http://www.fbe.um.edu.my Ajman University of Science & Technology Ajman, P. O. Box 346 United Arab Emirates (Jihad Awad) [email protected] www.ajman.ac.ae/austweb/index87ec.html?catid=46&langid=2 Qatar University Qatar University Library, Aquisitons Department, P.O Box 2713, Doha, Qatar. (Amrita Mckinney) [email protected] www.qu.edu.qa BRAC University, Department of Architecture, Dhaka, Bangladesh, (Fuad H Mallick) [email protected] www.bracu.ac.bd Universidad Del Rosario, Calle 14 No. 6-25, Bogotá, Colombia. (Janneth Espitia) [email protected] www.urosario.edu.co

Contents o p e n h o u se i n t e r n a t i o n a l

march 2013

vol.38 no.1

7 7 20 31 31 52

EDITORIAL:“EXPANDING NORMAL: TOWARDS A MORE INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO DESIGNING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT” Magda Mostafa

4

ENRICHING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ARCHITECTURE THROUGH DISABILITY EXPERIENCE Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

7

A COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEM FOR MASS CUSTOMIZATION OF PREFABRICATED HOUSING Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

20

TOWARDS INCLUSIVE CAMPUS ENVIRONMENTS: EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH OF A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS Evrim Demir Mishchenko

31

EFFECTIVENESS OF TACTILE SURFACE INDICATORS IN ‘DESIGN FOR ALL’ CONTEXT Halime Demirkan

43

ELDERLY-FRIENDLY INCLUSIVE URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: LEARNING FROM ANKARA Yasemin Afacan

52

BOOK REVIEWS

64

NEXT ISSUE: Vol 38.No .2 2013: Open Issue covering Real Estate Crisis, Wind Catchers in Iran, Vernacular Architecture Studies, Mass Housing, Translating Memories, Redefining Vernacular, Environment Responsiveness. Editor: Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA.Eastern Mediterranean University, Mersin 10, Northern Cyprus. Email: [email protected]

Open House International has been selected for coverage by EBSCO Publishing, the ELSEVIER Bibliographic Database Scopus and all products of THOMSON ISI index bases, SSCI, A&HCI,CC/S&BS and CC/A&H The journal is also listed on the following Architectural index lists: RIBA, ARCLIB, AVERY and EKISTICS. Open House International is online for subscribers and gives limited access for non-subscribers at www.openhouse-int.com

1

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013

Theme Issue: Built Environments for Special Populations Subjects include: Special Populations, Normal / Special ? Autism Spectrum Disorder, Accessibility Codes, Special Needs Design, Universal Design, Elderly Populations and Visual Impairment. Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Magda Mostafa, Department of Construction and Architectural Engineering, The American University in Cairo, Egypt. Email: [email protected]

Previous Issues Vol. 37 No. 4 2012 open house international Theme Issue: ‘Adapting Buildings to Climate Change’

Guest Editors: Dr. Monjur Mourshed, Building Energy Research Group, Loughborough University, UK. [email protected]; Prof. Fuad H. Mallick, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [email protected]

Interview Editorial: Monjur Mourshed and Fuad H. Mallick The Paradox of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Danish Housing. Rob Marsh Design Strategies for Houses Subject to Heatwaves. Helen Bennetts, Stephen Pullen, George Zillante Genesis of Malaysia’s Policy Relating to Sustainability of The Built Environment. Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz, George Ofori Summertime Impact of Climate Change on Multi-Occupancy British Dwellings. Shariful Shikder, Monjur Mourshed, Andrew Price Awareness of Climate Change Adaptations Among Dutch Housing Associations. Martin Roders, Ad Straub, Henk Visscher Study of Building Adaptation in Warm Humid Climate in Nigeria Mike Adebamowo (Ph.D), Adetokunbo O. Ilesanmi (Ph.D) A Strategic Approach for Existing Buildings to Withstand Climate Change T. Valdbjørn Rasmussen Book Review

Vol. 37 No. 3 2012

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013

open house international OPEN ISSUE:

Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. DPU Associate, University College London, UK. [email protected]

2

Editorial: Nicholas Wilkinson Design Principles of Narrow Townhouse; For Affordability and Adaptability. Avi Friedman and Robyn Whitwham Flexible Building and Construction Systems in Traditional Korean Architecture. Kim Sung-Hwa and JIA Beisi Urban Squatting in Latin America: Relevance of ‘Guided Occupancy’. Belén Gesto, Guillermo Gómez, Julián Salas The Challenge of Complexity and Creativity Factor in Architectural Design. Saim Nalkaya Flexibility in Hong Kong Private Housing. T. H. Khan and T. K. Dhar Connecting up Capacities: Integrated Design for Energy-Efficient Housing in Chile. Rodrigo G. Alvarado, Underlea M. Bruscato, Maureen T. Kelly, Flavio C. D'Amico, Olavo E. Oyola Abandoned Housing Project: Assessment on Resident Satisfaction toward Building Quality. Zamharira Sulaiman, Azlan Shah Ali, Faizah Ahmad The Impact of Passive Design On Building Thermal Performance. Emad S. Mushtaha, Taro Mori, Enai Masamichi

Previous Issues Vol. 37 No. 2 2012

open house international Theme Issue:URBAN SPACE DIVERSITY, Paradoxes and Realities.

Editorial: Rethinking Urban Diversity. Ashraf M. Salama and Alain Thierstein Diversity as a Unique Constellation of Superimposing Network logics Alain Thierstein and Anne Wiese Public Space Networks as a Support for Urban Diversity Ana Júlia Pinto and Antoni Remesar A Perceptual Approach for Investigating Urban Space Diversity in the City of Doha. Ashraf M. Salama and Remah Y. Gharib Cultural and Economic Influences on Multicultural Cities: The Case of Doha, Qatar. Yasser Mahgoub and Reham A. Qawasmeh Diversity In The Public Space Of A Traditional City - Zaria, Nigeria. Shaibu B. Garba Urban Space Diversity In South Africa: Medium Density Mixed Developments. Karina Landman Diversity In Conviviality:Beirut’s Temporary Public Spaces. Christine Mady A Tale Of Two Souqs: The Paradox Of Gulf Urban Diversity. Ali A. Alraouf The (Im)-Possible Mosque; Spatial Mutation And Identity Needs In Northern Ireland. Fodil Fadli The Impact Of Digitalization On Social Interaction And Public Space. Susan j. Drucker and Gary Gumpert

Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Ashraf Salama, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. e-mail: [email protected]

Vol. 37 No. 1 2012 open house international

Editorial Nicholas Wilkinson The validity of previ, lima, peru, forty years on Julián Salas (CSIC-IETCC), Patricia Lucas (CSIC-IETCC) Examining the potential for mass customization of housing in Malaysia Md. Nasir Daud, Hasniyati Hamzah and Yasmin Mohd Adnan Comparison of post-disaster housing procurement methods in rural areas of Turkey Neşe Dikmen, Soofia Tahira Elias Ozkan, Colin Davidson Remodeling of the vernacular in Bukchon Hanoks Jieheerah Yun A ‘fareej-in-the-sky’: Towards a community-oriented design for high rise residential buildings in the UAE Khaled Galal Ahmed Environments of change: An open building approach towards a design solution for an informal settlement in Mamelodi, South Africa Donovan Gottsmann, Amira Osman Alienation of traditional habitats & shelters in Jordanian villages Ahmed Abu Al Haija A reading in critical regionalism: analysis of two houses by Han Tumertekin Hilal Aycı & Esin Boyacıoğlu

Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. DPU Associate, University College London, UK. [email protected]

3

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013

OPEN ISSUE:

Editorial

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013.

“ E x p a n d i n g No r m a l : T o w a r d s a Mo r e Inclusive Approach to Designing the B u i l t E n v i r o n m en t ” Architecture, at its very essence, is the process of providing physical space and place for human activity. Primarily concerned with responding to the specific needs of users and their societies, the built environment plays a tremendous role in shaping and facilitating the every day world we live in. Although being inextricably concerned with this man-environment dynamic, architecture however seems to limit its mainstream practices, education and standards to the conventional spectrum of “normal”. This leaves numerous user groups and victims of social circumstances largely excluded from the luxury of an architecture that deems itself specifically to serve them. Such exclusion from the mainstream spectrum may be due to unique spatial needs and requirements of specific groups, or social phenomena that arise from particular transient or non-transient socio-political circumstances. Such marginalized groups include, but are not necessarily limited to, individuals with special needs and disabilitiesparticularly developmental disabilities with nonphysical manifestations; displaced persons due to natural or socio-political circumstances such as refugees and the homeless; minority groups; the elderly; the poverty stricken; victims of natural disaster etc. By encouraging research in this area we may create a much-needed body of information and a number of methodologies and policies required to address the architectural and urban needs of such special populations. In this issue of Open House International authors present research that helps bridge this informational gap through evidence based design research, case studies, policy evaluation and other forms of scientific research that address the relationship between special populations and their existing, and required, built environments. E x pa n d i n g N o r ma l In most discussions of special needs and their populations, the word “normal” enters the dialogue, despite the polarizing opinions on its relevance, or indeed appropriateness and political correctness. But if one were to look more responsibly and critically at these delineations of “normal”, which are 4

almost invariably based on quantitative cut-off points of IQ and physical ability, one would actually find a continuum of abilities and skills. Such delineations of “normal” are almost arbitrary and disconnected from the special needs user him or herself as a unique, holistic person, merely excluded from the scope of “normal” as a result of the distillation of his life- with all its abilities, unique perspectives and challenges- to a set of statistical ranges. Furthermore, not only is this continuum commonly judged as purely quantitative- dealing with issues of physical range of motion, sight acuity, hearing decibel range, etc.- but it disregards the qualitative aspects of special needs use- such as comfort, sense of belonging and the accommodation of sensory challenges related to tactility and the olfactory, as well as the acoustical environment outside of the requirements of the hearing impaired. This all presents a powerful challenge to the concept itself of categorizing users into “normal” and “special”. As Wendy Lawson- herself a person diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder- famously said in her talk at the World Congress on Autism in South Africa in 2006, after referring to “NT” individuals throughout her talk, when asked by an audience member who “NT” individuals were. She responded, “Neuro-typical, or what you would call “normal”. The only difference was that her talk was presented from an autistic perspective, a perspective that she quite rightly viewed as her “normal”, and “NT individuals” became, in this dialogue, the special needs. When this response was met with some surprise from the audience she calmly replied that a label wasn’t too comfortable and that it was no fun being outside of normal, now was it? It didn’t help that she just challenged, by unequivocal example, an earlier presentation on the inability of autistic individuals to understand humor, or even sarcasm, let alone practice it. This critique of the term “normal” does not necessarily discount the tremendous importance of accessibility codes and various special needs design guidelines. It rather challenges them to expand their understanding of what needs require accommodation. It is ironic that accessibility codes, whose raison d’etre is to ensure inclusion of individuals with special needs in all built environments, are they themselves non-inclusive. As we learn more about the nature of human ability, we discover more and more the individuality of users, and the proliferation of hidden disabilities, such as learning

5

Magda Mostafa

fication and interventions from a more user-centered perspective, and poses an interesting dichotomy between customization and generalization, creating a premise for further debate. Evrim Demir Mishchenko presents a position on Universal Design as a concept, as applied to the basic right of access to education. By looking beyond accessibility, to issues of equality, social inclusion and justice, she begins to address questions such as usability, identifiability and sense of belonging and presents a more holistic approach to design. Again by adopting a user-based perspective, a university campus is analyzed, and its accessibility is challenged, as users identify not only actual, but also perceived barriers. If anything, this calls for a revision of code to address the perception of users as well as their ability, or lack thereof. By combining both a design audit of the campus and user workshop, she presents an interesting model to assess and develop more holistically userfriendly approaches to campus upgrading, as well as for designing new campuses with an expanded sense of accessibility, truly incorporating of the principles of Universal Design. In a similar user-perspective approach Yasemin Afacan expands our discussion to include yet another under-represented population in the discussion of special needs design and accessibility codes- our aging population. This user group is rapidly growing, with estimates that the number of persons over 60 may reach beyond 20% of the global population in the coming decade. Once again, looking at the perception and usability of space, in this case an urban city space, she presents a case for more sensitive design of our cities to accommodate this growing population. Using Burton & Mitchell’s “streets for life” concept she analyzes a case study of the city of Ankara, from the perspective of elderly users. She concludes with a checklist for an elderly-friendly inclusive urban environment model, which is fertile ground for verification and further development. The elderly population is also addressed in this issue from a more technological perspective. In the work of Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher and Bassem Eid, a computer-based model for masscustomization of prefabricated housing is discussed in its applicability to the aging population of Canada. They present this web-based model aimed specifically at elderly couples in their retirement. In this paper technology is seen its role to reconcile the historically counterintuitive and oxymoronic concept of customizing mass-produced

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013.

disabilities, attention disorders, psychological disorders and developmental disorders such as autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. The prevalence of such challenges is by no means small. With increasingly developed diagnostic tools we are realizing today the almost epidemic numbers of such challenges. Autism Spectrum Disorder alone, for example, has been recently estimated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States to be found to have a prevalence of 1 in every 88 children, with a 4:1 ratio of boys to girls. These numbers are startling, and can no longer responsibly be ignored. Perhaps the exclusion of such special needs from accessibility codes and special needs design guidelines, which are typically manifested in a spectrum, is a result of exactly that- a spectrum with a vast variety of level and type of challenges is very difficult to design for, let alone develop a code for. This brings us to the age-long debate when it comes to standardization, of generalization vs. specificity. While it is possible to develop, for example, a code for mobility challenges that can be accommodated by ramps and dimensional considerations, it is more challenging to do so for a spectrum of challenges such as autism. Some research has begun to look constructively at this challenge, with ideas such as dynamic matrices and hybrid codes of core accommodations, and customizable, flexible peripheral interventions for the uniqueness of each user. But even such approaches don’t discount the need for a more responsible, sensitive, holistic and critical investigation of the relationship between the built environment and these marginalized “hidden” special needs. Perhaps promisingly, there are a small, but growing, number of researchers looking at these issues, trying to redefine our approach to designing for special individuals in our built environments. This issue presents some of such discussions. Possibly the clearest manifestation of this position among the works presented here, is that of Ann Heylighen, Caroline VanDoren and PeterWillem Vermeersch. By looking beyond anthropometrics towards the more qualitative aspects of the user-built environment relationship, they present a vignette into the experience of two special individuals. These include a visually impaired, as well as a mobility challenged individual. These user perspective cases examine the efficacy of special needs accommodations in a museum environment. They contend that in striving to measure and quantify disability, much qualitative richness in design is lost. The paper presents various views of classi-

Magda Mostafa open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013.

housing. They discuss the idea of aging in place and its position in the customization process while presenting technology in its role as both processthrough online digital customization- and product through issues like home automation. In the second of the two more technical papers of this issue, Halime Demirkan looks at the qualitative dimension of a typically quantitative element- tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) for facilitated circulation for the visually impaired. Through a historical look at the development of these TWSIs he takes a critical look at their place in the “design for all” context. He goes on to discuss their efficacy and presents thoughts for further development of adopting alternate channels for environmental information, for those deprived of the sense of sight. This collection of works presents both the variety and the common thread amongst researchers attempting to challenge and blur the delineation between the “normal” and “special” population, perhaps towards even eliminating the line altogether. They present a collective call to design responsibly, sensitively and holistically along the spectrum and continuum of human abilities and individualities, and expand our normal to be truly inclusive.

Author: Magda Mostafa Associate Professor, Department of Construction and Architectural Engineering, The American University in Cairo. Email: [email protected] 6

ENRICHING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ARCHITECTURE THROUGH DISABILITY EXPERIENCE

Abstract The relationship between the built environment and the human body is rarely considered explicitly in contemporary architecture. In case architects do take the body into account, they tend to derive mathematical proportions or functional dimensions from it, without explicit attention for the bodily experience of a building. In this article, we analyse the built environment in a way less common in architecture, by attending to how a particular person experiences it. Instead of relating the human body to architecture in a mathematical way, we establish a new relationship between architecture and the body—or a body—by demonstrating that our bodies are more involved in the experience of the built environment than we presume. The article focuses on persons with a sensory or physical impairment as they are able to detect building qualities architects may not be attuned to. By accompanying them during a visit to a museum building, we examine how their experiences relate to the architect’s intentions. In attending to the bodily experiences of these disabled persons, we provide evidence that architecture is not only seen, but experienced by all senses, and that aesthetics may acquire a broader meaning. Senses can be disconnected or reinforced by nature. Sensory experiences can be consciously or unconsciously eliminated or emphasized by the museum design and use. Architects can have specific intentions in mind, but users (with an impairment) may not experience them. Attending to the experiences of disabled persons, and combining these with the architect’s objectives, provides an interesting view of a building. Our analysis does not intend to criticize the one using the other; rather the combination of both views, each present in the building, makes for a richer understanding of what architecture is. Keywords: Architecture, Experience, Disability, Museum, Inclusive Design.

1 . A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d ( d i s a bl e d) bo d i e s The relationship between the built environment and the human body is rarely considered explicitly in contemporary architecture. In case architects do take the body into account, they often adopt a mathematical or dimensional approach. The human body has been taken as source of proportion and measurement in architecture throughout history: from classicist anthropomorphism deriving divine proportions, over modernist organicism deriving mathematical-physical laws, to contemporary ergonomics deriving functional dimensions (Van Herck & De Cauter 2004). Today the human body is still mainly applied by architects to derive mathematical proportions or functional dimensions, while the bodily experience of a building is not considered explicitly. By using books like the Metric Handbook (Adler 1999) or Architects’ Data (Neufert & Neufert 2000), designers introduce alleged ideal measurements in architecture (Imrie 2003).

Interestingly, this mathematical approach can also be found in architecture’s relationship to disability. Across the board, conceptions of disability tend to be dominated by a medical discourse, which considers disability as an individual, physiological, disorder to be treated or cured. The disorder is situated in the person and the solution to the problem caused by the disorder lies in treatment or cure to restore the body’s function. In this view, disability is defined by means of measurable criteria and arbitrary thresholds. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO 1993) defines when a person is disabled based on measurable aspects of the human body. Once measured, a threshold can be chosen when this specific aspect contributes to the person being disabled. Visual impairment, for instance, is defined as having a visual acuity of less than 3/10, and blindness as having a visual acuity of less than 1/20 and/or a field of vision of less than 10°. Accordingly, accessibility is defined in terms of measurable aspects of the built environment, as exemplified by accessibility norms or 7

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability...

guidelines. The latter seem to consider accessibility as a matter of fact (Latour 2005), i.e. as something we are detached from, taken care of by state officials or experts, instead of something to which we, as a public, are exposed or attached (Simons & Masschelein 2009). They translate accessibility into facts (or indicators and averages) by fixing maximum heights of thresholds and minimum widths of doors, which in turn can be objectively measured by professional accessibility advisors. Rendering accessibility to the realm of matters of fact, in which accuracy becomes the closing argument of professional experts, leaves those affected by it—disabled people themselves—as seemingly incapable of joining the dialogue because they are supposedly no experts in the field (Heylighen & Nijs 2011). Critiques of such medical conceptions of disability, however, place the body in a socio-material context by recognizing the complex interplay between features of a person’s body and features of the sociomaterial context of his/her actions. Referring to the definition of blindness, for instance, Ruth Butler and Sophia Bowlby (1997) argue the threshold at which a person considers oneself visually disabled varies across individuals and may also differ from how others perceive them. This move to embrace disability as a social issue can be traced in the WHO’s (2001) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. The latter recognizes disability as a complex phenomenon reflecting an interplay between features of a person’s body and features of the environment s/he lives in. It distinguishes between an “impairment”: a problem in a body function or structure; an “activity limitation”: a difficulty encountered in executing a task; and a “participation restriction”: a problem experienced in involvement in life situations. In the WHO’s (2001) words: “Disability is not something that only happens to a minority of humanity. The ICF thus ‘mainstreams’ the experience of disability and recognizes it as a universal human experience.” In the context of architecture (and other design domains), this recognition of the two-way relationship between disabled person and his/her environment, has led to the development of design approaches like Universal Design (Mace 1985), Inclusive Design (Clarkson et al. 2003), and Design for All. These approaches are focused on issues of social inclusion in that they aim at “designing environments that facilitate people’s emancipation from artefacts that restrict or prevent their ease of mobility and access” (Imrie 2011). Despite their appearance, however, these design approaches also have 8

“vestiges of a medical model underpinning its value-based, and clinical and physiological rather than cultural (social) criteria appear to be defining and shaping its design mentalities and approaches” (ibid.). In line with Newton D’Souza (2004) and Jim Tobias (2003), Rob Imrie (2011) points at the positivist predisposal of these approaches towards the propagation of universal principles, their normative prescription of rules defining what good design is or ought to be, and their instrumental and pragmatic character in seeking to influence the usefulness or utility of designed artefacts. As such, they seem to fit into a “problem-solving paradigm”, whereby the design problem is posited as an objective entity that, through the development of applications and standards, will result in the correct outcomes (ibid.). In reality, design outcomes are interpreted and experienced by people in ways that may considerably differ from the designers’ intentions (Crilly et al. 2008). This holds in particular for the experience of disabled people: through their bodily interaction with the designed environment, they can detect obstacles or appreciate qualities that designers may not be attuned to (Heylighen 2008). To some extent, their perspective may thus be considered as connoisseurship (Gibson 2000), a form of expertise that develops through perceptual learning, i.e. discovering distinctive features and invariant properties of things and events. As a result of this perceptual learning, experts are able to differentiate, in their body or surrounding world, variables that are meaningless to novices. Considering disabled people’s perspective as a form of expertise resonates with a cultural model of disability, which acknowledges disability’s potential to question normative practices and prevailing frames of reference in society (Devlieger et al. 2003). Ray McDermott and Harvé Varenne (1995) describe this potential of disability as follows: “In cultural terms, the difficulties people in wheelchairs face with curbs and stairs tell us little about the physical conditions requiring wheelchairs or cart, but a great deal about the rigid institutionalization of particular ways of handling gravity and boundaries between street and sidewalk as different zones of social interaction.” In this article we apply a cultural model of disability to the analysis of a contemporary building. We start from how the architect and his team conceived the building, and compare this to the experiences of a physically impaired and visually impaired person. We opted for a public building because such environment implies a wide range of visitors. By consulting the experiences of persons

In 2004 the city of Louvain (Belgium) launched a competition for the development of a new museum site to replace the municipal museum Vander Kelen-Mertens. The competition was won by Stéphane Beel Architects, a Belgian architecture firm based in Ghent. The new museum site opened in 2009 and was baptised ‘M’. Museum M was selected for our analysis for two reasons. The first reason is the fact that M is a well-known piece of contemporary architecture. Since its opening, M has been praised as an important work of architecture by the professional press, and attracts a large volume of visitors. The second important reason for this selection is that the architect and his team paid explicit attention to persons with an impairment from the early design decisions on. This might relate to the fact that Stéphane Beel himself has been diagnosed with a neurological

Figure 1.

9

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

2 . M e t h o ds a n d M a t e r i a l

disease, which he feels has made him particularly sensitive (N 2011, Plets 2011). In line with the ambition of our analysis, we rely on multiple methods and sources. In order to fully grasp the architects’ conceptions of the museum, we inventoried and analysed publications about M, and conducted interviews with the project architect. In addition, we interviewed M’s architecture guide, who is confronted with the building and its visitors on a daily basis. In order to gain access to (disabled) visitors’ experiences, the second author visited the museum accompanied by Charlotte, a person using a wheelchair, and Philip, a person with a visual impairment. During these visits a particular dialogue was expected to develop: a dialogue that is embodied in nature, unfolds in situ, and involves a particular knowledge transfer. Through such a dialogue experience is being framed: both the disabled person and the researcher find themselves in a reflexive stance— reflexive about their experience of the building for the former, reflexive about design practice for the latter (Heylighen & Nijs 2011). After briefly outlining the general concept of M, the next section will analyse how (disabled) visitors experience this museum building, and how this experience relates to the architect’s intentions.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

with an impairment, we want to gain nuanced insights in how the original intentions of the architect are experienced by the (disabled) visitors, and demonstrate how such insights may expand and enrich our understanding of architecture.

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability...

Figure 2.

Figure 1-3: Original site layout with former academy (left) and house Vander Kelen-Mertens (center). New site layout with two new volumes. Three entrances (© Stéphane Beel Architects).

Figure 3.

3. Another Perspective on Museum M The concept developed by Stéphane Beel Architects is grandiose and extremely simple at the same time. The design unravelled the former chaos on the site by carefully combining three elements: the conservation and restoration of valuable buildings, c.q. the house Vander Kelen-Mertens and the former academy (Fig.1); the demolition of miserable constructions, c.q. the old municipal library; and the addition of two new volumes—a long volume par10

allel to the Vanderkelenstraat and a tall volume close to the Hanengang (Fig.2). The newly introduced volumes create various entrances to and passages through the site (Fig.3). The main urban entrance, in the Vanderkelenstraat, can be distinguished by a historically listed portico—the international symbol for museums. A second, more cosy entrance in the Savoyestraat gives on to the museum’s public garden. The third, informal entrance is located in the Hanegang. It is more private, and only accessible to artists and people attending a workshop. The passages from the three entrances cross in the public garden, where an old oak tree dating from 1930 forms the central element.

3 . 1 A R R I V A L – “ T h e m a i n e n tr a n c e t o t he mu s e u m i s d e l i b e r a t e l y v e r y e a s i l y a c c e s s i b le ” ( Pe l g r i m s & Wi n n e n 2 0 0 6 ) The main entrance of M is accentuated by the his-

Figure 4.

11

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

torically listed portico (Fig.4). At first Stéphane Beel was very critical of the protected fronton and pillars (Stad Leuven 2009b), but treating them as the entrance seemed to be a stroke of genius. Both Philip and Charlotte easily found this urban entrance. Charlotte never visited Louvain before, but when she and her companion entered the street it was clear for them the museum was here. The portico will not help people who are totally blind, Philip mentions; they are not conscious about the fact that it is an international symbol of a museum either. Nonetheless, the main entrance still is an interesting tactile element of the building. Striking about the main entrance is the fact that visitors have to descend to enter the museum. At the time when museums were a privilege for the bourgeoisie, the architecture guide points out, visitors had to ascend to enter; think about the British Museum in London for instance. The descent before entering Museum M is supposed to symbolise its accessibility and openness to all people. When we mention this openness to Philip, he understands the idea, but for him it does not make the museum more accessible. Stéphane Beel found it important that different groups of visitors do not have to separate; a wheelchair user and an able-bodied person can enter together by this entrance. There are rules for

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

Stéphane Beel had a clear concept for the exterior, but also for the inside of the museum complex. The program is spread over different layers. Two underground depot levels are feeding the three layers on top. The latter accommodate several exhibitions. Each level displays a different type of exhibition—preserving, unlocking, and creating— but actually all three are conceived to accommodate every type of art. Walking through the museum, one experiences a succession of different atmospheres. Sometimes volumes are consciously built against each other, most of the time they do not touch. To let visitors consider this transition between old and new, small bridges are made between the volumes. The bridges draw visitors’ attention to the fact that they are going from an old to a new volume or vice versa. In what follows we zoom in on the architect’s intentions about the arrival and the lighting and compare these to how (disabled) visitors experience the building.

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability...

Figure 4-5: Main entrance with portico. Ramp and stairs. (© CVD).

Figure 5.

guaranteeing accessibility, the project architect tells us, yet these were dealt with in an innovative way by crossing the ramp through the stairs (Fig.5). At first the city council raised objections against the idea to combine the stairs and the ramp but later on they accepted it. According to the project architect, wheelchair users will have no problems with the ramp. He is unfamiliar with the experience of visually impaired visitors but believes it will be appropriate. He does criticize the long going and low rise of the stairs at the entrance though; the typical formula for stairs (2 x rise + going = 58 to 63 cm) does not apply here. The architecture guide is unaware of potential problems regarding the entrance, she never heard complaints about it. When consulting Charlotte and Philip about this innovative entrance, we hear a different story. They both mention the continuation of the ramp and stairs. When Philip sees a banister he tends to grab it immediately, to avoid falling in case he stumbles. In descending this staircase he is also led by the banister, which stops when the ramp crosses the stairs (Fig.6-8). This is necessary for the continuation of the ramp, but the fact that he has troubles finding the next banister annoys Philip. A feature he really appreciates, however, is that the banister begins at the first step and ends at the last one. This may seem obvious, but in reality he is confronted with many cases where the staircase scares him by having two more stairs after the banister has stopped. Next to the continuation of the ramp and stairs, the colour of the entrance seems to cause obstacles as well. Both Charlotte and Philip notice that the white colour of the stairs and ramp is not ideal when it is very sunny, as was the case when 12

they visited the museum site. In Philip’s experience the flight of stairs is one white inclined plane. He is unable to distinguish the different stairs and the combination with the ramp makes it even more difficult and confusing (Fig.9). In situations like this he definitively has to use his white cane. At street level the different steps and the ramp cannot be distinguished. From downstairs, the distinction between the steps is more clear (Fig.7). It is always easier to perceive the different steps from downstairs, Philip points out; so apparently this is not unique to this staircase. Charlotte, on the other hand, has perfect eyesight but standing in front of the entrance does not make her comfortable about entering either. The ramp is not very visible for wheelchair users. Charlotte’s companion finally notices that you have to follow the dots in the middle of the large stones of the ramp (Fig.10). The suggestion is made to introduce a difference in colour to mark the ramp. For a long time, Stéphane Beel Architects were undecided about the material of the stairs. They were thinking about a rough finish, the project architect tells us, but finally chose the smooth surface of the concrete tiles. The first reason for this choice is that the architects wanted the same kind of concrete tiles across the entire Museum site. Secondly, the entrance is situated underneath the cantilevered (new) volume, so the stairs cannot get wet when it rains. As it was a sunny day when Charlotte and Philip visited the building, they are not able to judge about this aspect. Philip is pleased with the material, he thinks it fits the travertine façades of the new volumes well. He heard that the stones can be slippery but did not experience it himself.

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch Figure 8.

Figure 7.

The architecture guide stresses that, during her guided tours, she wants to let visitors feel that the entrance is going down deliberately. Interesting is Philip observation about the entrance: in this space you can still hear the city, he says, but you leave it behind you. The old portico is behind your back, the new volumes are in front of you and above you. You have the impression that you entered the museum, but actually you are still outside. By describing the movement of entering in this way he admits that the sense of space and the concept are excellent. 3 . 2 L I G H T I NG – “ T he v i s i to r i s g u i d e d t hr o u g h th e e x h i b i ti o n f r o m o n e s p o t o f l i g h t to a n o th e r . ” ( B e e l 2 0 0 9 ) “I am not in the first instance concerned with the outside of the things, but the outside is certainly important in the sense that it speaks a particular language” (Marquez & Levene 2005). This quote by Stéphane Beel does not refer to Museum M in par-

Figure 6-8: Philip grasping the banister, which stops when the ramp crosses the stairs. (© CVD).

ticular, yet it seems to apply to it. During the interview, the project architect confides to us that Stéphane Beel Architects usually design a building from the inside. For this project they added two new volumes on the site. At certain points they decided to extend the volumes, e.g. to the portico. These extensions were made with great views in mind: views on the Central Library of the university, the Saint Peter’s Church, the Town Hall (Fig.11-12). The concept of routing is important for Stéphane Beel. Windows are conceived on wellconsidered places: “Along the exhibition track you can perceive the city and perfectly framed views of the other parts of the buildings” (Stad Leuven 2009a). Sometimes a window provides a view over the city, at other times one can catch a glimpse of the garden: “These large urban ‘paintings’ provide a view on the University Library, the towers of the Town Hall but also on the banal back of the urban buildings. These views are not only esthetical sights of the monuments of the city, but also uninteresting sights are present” (Dubois 2009). Moreover, “(...) 13

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

Figure 6.

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability...

Figure 9.

Figure 9-10: Sun reflecting on the stairs. Charlotte enters by following the dots. (© CVD)

Figure 10.

even roofs made of sheets of corrugated material are shown to the visitor, because these roofs are also part of the city!” (Wijle 2010).

Philip is very positive about the windows. Even when there is a statue in front of the window, he tries to get closer to catch a glimpse, for example of the oak tree. He appreciates the views on the garden and the city. In the long volume he asks 14

whether it is possible to see the Town Hall because he remembers this magnificent view from a previous visit. A bit later, Philip recognizes the view (Fig.13). Still in the long volume, he notices daylight penetrating the building and suddenly goes closer to the window. The window in this particular space was darkened earlier, he thinks, because he does not remember the view. Also in another space he guesses the windows were darkened before. In some cases, the project architect explains, the architecture team thought the view as interesting

Figure 11-12:New volumes extending with well-considered windows offering great views (© Stéphane Beel Architects; CVD).

Figure 12.

15

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

Figure 11. Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability... Figure 13.

Figure 15.

Figure 13-15: View on the Town Hall. Statue in front of a window. Charlotte watching the garden. (© CVD)

Figure 14.

16

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

4. Discussion and Conclusion We started this article with a brief outline of the relationship—past and present—between architecture and the human body. From ancient times onwards, people have been trying to derive proportions and dimensions from a standardized body, and to translate these mathematical principles to architecture, sometimes even literally. Similarly, measurable aspects of disabled bodies have been translated into accessibility norms and guidelines by fixing maximum heights of thresholds and minimum

Moreover, in establishing this new relationship, the notion of aesthetics seems to acquire a broader meaning. Senses can be disconnected or reinforced by nature, e.g. people born blind learn to attend to auditory and haptic features in the envi17

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

widths of doors. These measurable proportions and dimensions, however, tell us little about the bodily experience of architecture, and how this experience relates to the experience intended by the designer. Stéphane Beel Architects intended to create a very accessible entrance where all visitors can enter together. Unfortunately, many architects still seem to have troubles to integrate usability and accessibility elegantly with the architectural concept: “Most buildings are first designed and then these ‘special requirements’ are merely pasted on” (Malik 2006). Instead Beel’s design questions the basic form and content of the physical fabric of an entrance from the perspective of accessibility. Philip and Charlotte appreciated the concept, but its realisation still shows some problems. A special feature of the building is the daylight admission. Stéphane Beel (2009) mentioned that the visitor is guided by the spots of light. Unconsciously, Philip and Charlotte seemed to be attracted to the windows indeed. By attending to the experiences of these two disabled visitors, we abandoned the prevailing relationship between architecture and the body. Instead of reducing the human body to a source of an abstracted system of proportions or measurable aspects, we acknowledged the full sensory role of the body in experiencing the built environment, thus providing evidence that architecture is not only seen, but experienced by the whole body (Pallasmaa 2005). In establishing this new relationship between architecture and the body—or rather two bodies—our analysis revealed a discrepancy between the architect’s conception of use and the observed use, suggesting that design decisions have been taken in favour of a strong presence of the concept. The intended equality in the entrance, for instance, translates into a visual uniformity that hinders ease of use not only for the visually impaired visitor, but even for the visitor with perfect sight. Inside the building, the concept of being guided from one spot of light to another conflicts with the building’s use as a museum; whence the covering of the windows. Judging from the experience of Philip and Charlotte, however, it does seem to work in terms of visiting the building.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

but the organisation decided not to show it. He also admits whether the windows are darkened or not depends on the exhibition. So because the windows are used differently now, the museum offers a totally different experience for Philip. The views also appeal to Charlotte. But unfortunately, the windows are sometimes too high for her. At other times a statue in front of a window restricts her enjoyment of the view (Fig.14). But in general she appreciates the windows (Fig. 15). Spread over the whole museum site, there are several windows that do provide an excellent view for her. The architecture guide recommends to point out the windows and views to visitors who use a wheelchair. During the visits, however, we notice that Charlotte and Philip spontaneously attend to the windows, even in difficult situations; we do not need to make them aware of the views. When we confronted Philip with the concept of walking from one spot of light to another he did not know immediately whether it was accurate. But considering their reactions during the visits the concept apparently seems to work. In Philip’s opinion, daylight is always a quality in a building. Both the consulted persons are of the opinion that there is enough daylight in this museum and that the views are well positioned. Although the project architect tells us that the views have to help persons to orientate themselves inside the building, Charlotte and Philip do not experience them in this way. Philip is not certain about this function and to test it he would have to visit the museum by himself. Charlotte appreciates the views but they do not help her to orientate herself on the site. In Philip’s opinion this is not a bad thing because otherwise the building would be immediately transparent from the first visit. A building which gives itself away from the first visit he finds boring.

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability...

ronment (e.g. Warren 1978). Sensory experiences can be consciously or unconsciously eliminated or emphasized by the museum’s design and use. Architects often associate disability with accesibility only, but in the light of a cultural model of disability, there is much to learn from the experience of disabled people. Striking is Philip’s statement: “Experience of a building is much more than just accessibility”. Although both visitors critically commented on the building, they mentioned that it is one of the best museums they have ever visited. The experience of a building is strongly related to the architecture, the concept, the ideas..., Philip said. To become aware of the experience of a building, consulting disabled persons is highly valuable. Stéphane Beel mentioned in one of his interviews that he always tries to imagine he is somebody else, e.g. a cleaning lady. Philip and Charlotte mentioned that able-bodied persons do not know how disabled people experience the built environment. Both visitors were really enthusiastic about their participation in our analysis because they appreciate that architects pay attention to them and their experiences. To conclude, in providing another perspective on Museum M, our analysis has demonstrated that the relationship between architecture and disability entails much more than obeying accessibility norms or guidelines. On a more general level, it has demonstrated that the relationship between the built environment and the human body transcends the scope of mathematical proportions and functional dimensions. Moreover, it has shown that, rather than being limited to visual effects, architecture can contribute to a certain bodily experience. Architects may have specific intentions in mind, but the user (with an impairment) sometimes does not necessarily experience these. Attending to the experiences of disabled persons, and combining these with the architect’s objectives, provides an interesting view of a building. Our analysis does not intend to criticize the one using the other; rather the combination of both views, each present in the building, makes for a richer understanding of what architecture is.

Acknowledgements This research received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/200718

2013)/ERC grant agreement n° 201673. The authors would like to express their special thanks to everybody who has contributed to the study reported in this article, especially to Charlotte and Philip, the project architect and the architecture guide.

References ADLER, D. 1999, Metric Handbook: Planning and Design Data. Architectural Press, Oxford. BEEL, S. 2009, M – museum Leuven, presentation press conference. BUTLER, R., BOWLBY, S. 1997, Bodies and spaces: an exploration of disabled people's experiences of public space, Environmental and planning D 15:441–433. CLARKSON, P.J., COLEMAN, R., KEATES, S., LEBBON C. 2003, Inclusive Design: design for the whole population, Springer. CRILLY, N., MAIER, A., CLARKSON, P.J. 2008, Representing Artefacts as Media. International Journal of Design 2(3):15-27. D’SOUZA, N. 2004, Is universal design a critical theory? Keates, S., Clarkson, J., Langdon, P., Robinson, P. (Eds.), Designing a more inclusive world, SpringerVerlag, Berlin, pp.3-10. DEVLIEGER, P., RUSCH, F., PFEIFFER, D. 2003, Rethinking Disability. The Emergence of New Definitions, Concepts and Communities, Garant, Antwerp. DUBOIS, M. 2009, Twee museumsites transformeren het bestaande, Kunsttijdschrift Vlaanderen, 58(327):232-234. GIBSON, E. 2000, Perceptual Learning in development. Ecological Psychology 12(4):295-302. IMRIE, R. 2003, Architects’ conceptions of the human body, Environment and Planning D 21:47-65. IMRIE, R. 2011, Universalism, universal design and equitable access to the built environment, Disability & Rehabilitation 1-10.

HEYLIGHEN, A., NIJS, G. 2011, Studying (Architecture) in Dialogue with Disability. Simons, M., Decuypere, M., Vlieghe, J., Masschelein, J. (Eds.), Curating the European University, Leuven University Press, Leuven, pp. 9-16.

TOBIAS, J. 2003, Universal design: is it really about design? Information Technology and Disabilities 9(2).

LATOUR, B. 2005, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik or How to Make Things Public. Latour, B, Weibel, P. (Eds.) Making Things Public. Atmospheres of Democracy, MIT Press, pp.14-41 MACE, R. 1985, Universal Design. Designers West, LA. MALIK, S. 2006, More Than Meets the Eye. Devlieger P., Renders, F., Froyen H., Wildiers, K. (Eds.) Blindness and the Multi-Sensorial City, Garant, Antwerpen, pp. 177201. MARQUEZ, F., LEVENE, R. 2005, Stéphane Beel 19922005 estranged familiarity, El Croquis 125. MCDERMOTT, R., VARENNE, H. 1995, Culture as disability, Anthropology and Education Quarterly 26:323348.

VAN HERCK, K., DE CAUTER, L. 2004, Het lichaam van de architectuur, Heynen, H., Loeckx, A., De Cauter, L., Van Herck, K. (Eds.) Dat is architectuur, 010, Rotterdam, pp. 736-746. WARREN, D.H. 1978, Perception by the Blind. Carterette, E.C., Friedman M.P. (Eds.) Handbook of Perception. Vol. 10. Academic Press, New York, pp. 6586. WHO. 1993, International statistical classification of diseases, injuries and causes of death, tenth revision, WHO, Geneva. WHO. 2001, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. WHO, Geneva. WIJLE, J. 2010 Dwars door de stad, Delbeke, M., T’Jonck, P., Wijle, J., Sterken, S., de Jong, S., Hedendaagse architectuur in Leuven 2006/2010, Stad en Architectuur vzw, Leuven, pp.44-56.

N. 2011, ‘t Groot lot. De toevalstreffers, grote en kleine lotgevallen in het leven van STEPHANE BEEL/ARCHITECT, De Standaard 24 Sept 2011. NEUFERT, E., NEUFERT, P. 2000. Neufert Architects’ Data. Wiley-Blackwell. PALLASMAA, J. 2005, The Eyes of the Skin, WileyAcademy, Great-Britain. PELGRIMS, D., WINNEN, D. 2006. De weg naar de nieuwe museumsite 3. Infohuis stadsvernieuwing, Leuven.

Author(s)

PLETS, G. 2011 Waterlanders/Stéphane Beel. De Standaard 19 March 2011.

Ann Heylighen, KU Leuven, Dept. of Architecture, Urbanism & Planning, Belgium Email:[email protected]

SIMONS, M., MASSCHELEIN, J. 2009, The public and its university: beyond learning for civic employability?. European Educational Research Journal 8(2): 204-217.

Caroline Van Doren KU Leuven, Dept. of Architecture, Urbanism & Planning, Belgium

STAD LEUVEN, 2009a. Het tentoonstellingsparcours. .

Peter-Willem Vermeersch KU Leuven, Dept. of Architecture, Urbanism & Planning, Belgium 19

Ann Heylighen, Caroline Van Doren & Peter-Willem Vermeersch

STAD LEUVEN, 2009b. Interview met Stéphane Beel .

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Enriching Our Understanding of Architecture through Disability....

HEYLIGHEN, A. 2008, Sustainable and inclusive design: a matter of knowledge?. Local Environment 13(6):531540.

A COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEM FOR MASS CUSTOMIZATION OF PREFABRICATED HOUSING

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed Abstract The concept of employing web-based configuration systems towards mass customization of housing has been implemented by some prefabricated housing companies around the globe, and has become a challenging research area in the last few decades as an outcome of advancements in communication and design technologies. Different methodologies have been employed with the aim of efficiently engaging future homebuyers in the design of their homes. The thrust of this paper is to systematically formalize an advanced configuration system for mass customization of prefabricated housing for a company operating in the Canadian market. The focus is on one floor bungalows which are common within the Province of Quebec. Such housing models targets a specific market sector; elderly couples seeking retirement homes, with the aim of improving affordability through maintaining particular design and production qualities. Keywords: Prefabricated housing, Mass Customization, Configuration System.

1 . In t r o d u c t i o n Recent societal challenges will affect the way Canadians house themselves in the coming years. On the environmental front, the need to conserve natural resources, energy chief among them, will force innovation into residential design and construction. In addition, demographic transformations and the aging of the “baby boom” generation bring about a need to conceive non-traditional housing prototypes such as aging in place, multi-generational and small-size dwellings. New economic realities will encourage designers and builders to investigate cost reduction measures to meet the needs of first-time homebuyers on a tight budget. These challenges also offer opportunities to the manufactured housing industry to retool and reposition itself as a leader in the production of high quality, innovative, energy-efficient housing. These changes also increase the need to foster greater communication between the designer, buyer and the manufacturer in order to enhance a better fit between users need and their chosen dwellings. In prefabrication this “fit” goes against the grain since by nature the industry is attempting to reduce the number of one -off components and stream line the process to reduce cost and time. Enhancing user participation in design is not new. It dates back to the Post World War II era, 20

where mass produced dwellings made architects reflect on the traditional delivery methods and develop strategies to make buyers an integral part of their dwellings choices. Strategies and tools employed at that time were sketches and physical models. Yet, these approaches experienced limited success and were not accepted by the industry at large due to various factors, including inefficiency in design and production. In North America, the housing industry witnessed the failure of mass production as a viable approach for the supply of dwellings; this is in part due to the lack of a customization option. Massproduced homes were usually monotonous, and at times poorly designed. Nowadays, due to new socio-economic realities, homebuyers are becoming more selective in their demand for change. The notions of “one model fits all” in prefabrication seem to have run its course (Kieran, and Timberlake 2004). Recent digital design and fabrication technologies have lent the process greater sophistication. They expended the opportunity to visually articulate to the buyer a wider range of choices in terms of building typology, layout, exterior cladding and interior finishing for example. Customers could also find what their home may look like and the cost of their choices immediately. Those systems help the manufacturers as well. It enabled them to

2 . T h e c o n c e p t o f m a ss c u s t o m i z a t i o n Mass customization, as defined by Pine (1993), is the production of individually customized goods and services. It relates to the ability to provide customized products or services through flexible processes, in high volumes and at reasonably low costs. The concept emerged in the late 1980s and was viewed as a natural outcome of processes that have become increasingly flexible and optimized regarding quality and costs. In addition, mass cus-

Pure standardization: standard products Segmented standardization: product assembly using standard parts Customized standardization: assembly of standard products, with configuration according to customer demand Tailored customization: products where the customer can have materials or extra equipment of choice, but constrained by the basic design of the product. Pure customization: products specially designed for a specific customer (Da Silviera, Borenstein, and Fogliatto 2001).

The lowest level of customization occurs if all stages of the value chain are standardized. On the other 21

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

tomization, as an alternative, gave companies an edge in a highly competitive and segmented market. The process of customization can be considered as a multi-faceted process that involves consideration of various aspects, such as managerial and technical. It is a production strategy that aims at providing customers with individualized products at near mass production efficiency. Although products are still being mass-produced, customers are increasingly demanding adaptation to their own requirements. Recently, most companies have to offer a range of choices, in order to remain competitive. The application of mass customization as a business strategy enables companies to gain an advantage over competitors by providing additional features and benefits (Blecker, and Friedrich 2006). The starting point towards mass customization would be mass-production of one-of-a-kind products. Mass production companies work on the basis of a fully developed model by making standard components to stock. These companies may decide to shift towards mass customization in response to market pressures and customer demand for a broader product portfolio. Companies adopt various strategies based on two main characteristics: the point of customer involvement in the design process and the type of modularity. Identifying the point of customer involvement and the modularity type are key elements in defining the configuration of processes and technologies that must be used to produce the mass customized product (Chandra, and Kamrani 2004). Processes in which customer involvement comes early in the production cycle result in more customized products. Accordingly, five strategies could be defined:

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

translate buyer’s selection to technical drawings and specification at ease. They could also communicate this information to digitally operated machinery there by creating a comprehensive process of mass-customization. This paper proposes a computer- based framework for homebuyers’ participation in the design of their homes. It aims at conceptualizing a methodology that can be pursued to develop an advanced, web-based configuration system to capably engage future homebuyers in designing their homes. The focus of this paper is on one floor bungalows which have been marketed intensively within the Quebec prefabricated housing market. Such housing prototypes targets a specific market sector; elderly couples seeking retirement homes, with the aim of improving affordability through maintaining particular design and production qualities. To achieve the mentioned goal; the paper is structured according to the following sequence. The first section is a definition of mass customization concepts and approaches towards mass customization of housing with focus on prefabricated housing. The second explores the nature of the problem of customization in the housing industry. The third describes in detail the methodology of the proposed configuration system. Finally, conclusions and topics for future research are presented. The paper represents an outcome of a one-year intensive research with a prefabricated housing company in Quebec, Canada. It is considered as a leading builder of energy – efficient, and factory built homes in the Canadian market. It is also a part of an ongoing research that explores the application of computational techniques towards implementing a comprehensive, multi-performance design system that would lead to efficiently adopt mass customization in the housing industry.

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Figure 1. Mass customization strategies with regard to level of customer involvement in the value chain (Tseng and Pine 2003).

hand, firms achieve the highest degree of customization, pure customization, if customers are able to have a direct impact on the design process at early stages (Da Silviera, et al. 2001). The other strategies are intermediate forms, which are situated between the extreme levels. Figure 1 illustrates the division of products into groups based on the point of customer involvement. 2.1 Mass c ustomization of housing Housing, unlike other products, requires a response to social and cultural issues when gathering clients’ preferences. There have been valuable contributions to the process of mass customization of housing in diverse domains. On the one hand, researchers have attempted to develop computerbased design systems to be used by architects or homebuyers to customize dwellings on various levels (Duarte 2001), ranging from direct participation in unit layout, to finishing material selection. On the other hand, efforts have been made to explore the potential of digital fabrication and how it could be deployed to enhance production processes, leading to the production of mass customized housing. While continuous innovation in design and fabrication technologies has made the idea of mass customization possible, these applications have not been fully integrated within the prefabricated housing industry. The common application of customization within the prefabricated housing industry is to pro22

vide homebuyers different alternatives regarding layout, finishing and systems. For example, the homebuyer will be offered to choose between housing layout A, B, or C, then kitchen layout A, B, or C, an optional extra garage or even extra story. This approach has been defined in research as “multiple choice housing”, which takes the form of printed catalogues and, recently, has been developed into interactive electronic catalogues. Electronic catalogues; typically, take the form of browser-based interfaces; such as LivingHomes, Bluhomes, Marmol Radziner, and Connect: homes; offering homebuyers the ability to navigate, and then modify the design of a housing unit over the internet. However, such a trend is considered to be exhaustive, as the architect is required to formerly design all possible alternatives. As a result, in some cases the amount of alternatives has to be kept limited to three to four options in order to avoid additional overhead cost. Moreover, offering many choices might be confusing to some homebuyers. Nevertheless, there are still chances that customers’ desired design variation will not be offered, since alternatives are developed according to architect’s view, not the customer’s demand. 3 . P r o b l e m s t at e m e n t Recent changes to the demographic composition of society have had an effect on the way people live and house themselves. On the one hand, rapidly changing family make-up has created a demand for housing types which are compact, flexible and efficient. On the other hand, over the past 50 years, the average age of the Canadian population has also constantly been on the rise (Statistics Canada 2008). Chief among these trends is the aging of the “baby boom” generation. Those born between 1945 and 1959 will face retirement and old age in the coming two decades. Those aged 65 or over have seen their number more than doubled in the past 35 years, creating a market for accessible, housing forms. Some seniors may buy a ground floor unit with direct access to the outdoors and modify it. The population involved in these societal changes has reached a critical mass to validate alternative approaches explored by policy-makers, developers and architects to the design and marketing of homes. Therefore, new design concepts are currently being considered in residential design. They include aging in place, multi-generation,

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

small-size and adaptable dwellings. By the nature of its design and production methods, the manufactured housing industry can respond to these challenges innovatively and efficiently. According to the Société Québécoise des Manufacturiers d’Habitation (SQMH) (SQMH 2008), there are about 42 prefabricated housing companies sharing the market in Quebec. These companies produce modular, panelized, and kit houses, delivering a total of eighteen percent of the single family housing market demands. Normally, prefabricated housing companies develop housing catalogues; either in the form of printed or electronic catalogues, comprising an average of thirty or more housing prototypes. These prototypes are intended to cover various market sectors, and designed with the aim of simplifying production processes to reduce fabrication cost as much as possible, while maintaining high-quality systems and enhanced environmental performance. One of the interesting trends, followed by the company investigated in this research, was focusing on a highly demanding market sector, retired seniors, who usually seek a retirement house within a specific budget. Accordingly, the company developed a series of prototypes, described as 100k houses that are small in size, and affordable. As it was envisioned to devise a mass customization system for this specific series of housing

prototypes, 100k houses, the design was critically analyzed with the aim of identifying a set of attributes. First, is there a specific design system pursued to generate housing models. Second, how affordability is achieved. Finally, the exploration of commonalities between different housing models, pertaining to modules, components, and design elements. The outcome of the analysis was that in most cases, the prototypes do not emerge from comprehensive design schemes. In other words, the design lacks modular co-ordination, which could be considered as the main factor to support adequate flexibility to accommodate design variations, and enhance affordability trough inter-changeability. 4 . A f r a me w o rk f o r a n a d v a n c e d c o n f i g u r a t i o n s y st e m Product configuration systems are considered as important enablers for the mass customization paradigm. They are information tools through which the order taking process is automated, thus customers’ requirements are captured without interfering human intermediaries. These tools rely on the application of artificial intelligence. Normally, configuration systems are implemented in the interface between a producer and its customers over the 23

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Figure 2. : Canadian population by age group (Clayton Research 2006 after Statistics Canada).

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

internet. It aims supporting customers in the configuration process of their products according to particular individual requirements (Blecker, et al. 2006). Pertaining to the housing industry, implementing a mass customization system, similar to the practice in other industries, requires intensive communication between the homebuyer and the builder, in order to gather homebuyer’s needs and requirements, then realize it. In such case, the collected information would relate to various activities, and accordingly spaces within a home, in addition to demographic and psychographic qualities. Once sufficient information is collected, homebuyers would be provided with a search space comprising various design alternatives that respond to their specific needs. Then, the system would enable homebuyers to make a wide range of design decisions intelligently, through an interactive configuration mechanism that allows the exploration of desired solutions, in addition to modifying several design elements. This process of interaction can be attained through an interactive, browser-based configuration system that takes users systematically through a series of design diversions, images and diagrams, making them choose spaces, colors, and every design detail. The methodology described in this paper focuses on an advanced configuration system that would assist homebuyers in the buying process, as well as customization of the dwelling unit. 4.1 System overview The first component within a configuration system targets building homebuyer’s profile. Such a process of generating, then maintaining, users’ profile is regarded as a crucial issue in customization. There have been valuable research efforts focusing on recommender agents that utilize user profile data and information filtering techniques to generate, and then maintain a user profile. Montaner, Lopez, and Rosa (2003) presented taxonomy of techniques for profile generation and maintenance, and profile exploitation. With regard to profile generation and maintenance, Montaner et al. (2003) proposed five dimensions; the system will require a method for profile representation, generation of initial profile, source of relevance feedback, profile learning technique, and profile adaptation technique. One of the interesting representation methods, vector space model; utilizes vectors to represent items by associating them with a value, which 24

can be a Boolean or a real number. On the other hand, profile exploitation aims filtering information to make recommendations. Three main dimensions were defined for providing accurate data through information filtering; content- based filtering, collaborative- based filtering, and a hybrid approach that merges between both. While content-based filtering uses detailed description of products normally in the form of vectors or item matrices, collaborative-based filtering relies more on matching users with similar interests, then makes recommendations on this basis. Finally, hybrid approach merges, which would be employed in the search process, features of content- based, and collaborativebased as they prove to be complementary (Montaner, el al. 2003; Larson, Tapia, and Duarte 2001). A hybrid approach can be employed towards collecting data, and creating user profile that would assist in generating and matching solutions in the realm of housing customization. Such an approach would target collecting demographic and psychographic qualities, and household activities. The importance of each activity should be represented as a vector of values, acting as inputs driving force of the design. Users may also differentiate between the relative importances of each requirement. The outcome of the profile generation process would feed the search engine that would appraise various housing prototypes, thus match homebuyer’s profile with the most suitable housing models that responds to their specific profile. In addition to graphical representation of the housing models in the form of plans, and 3-dimensional rendering, a comprehensive description of all characteristics that are required to assist homebuyers in decision making process would be also listed, including a detailed pricing module that reflects any selection made by homebuyers. The importance of pricing was a result of questioning a number of leading prefabricated companies in Quebec, it was concluded that pricing plays a very important role in the “deal closing”. The following diagram presents a detailed sequence for the process. The online configuration system would provide the functionality for a multi-level interactive process to add or change design elements according to user’s preferences. It comprises four categories: Layout: select one design from two/three alternatives Spatial modifications: configure room blocks, especially for kitchen and bathroom.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Figure 3. Diagrammatic representation of the online configuration system structure.

25 Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Appearance: including surface material, color and texture selection of exterior and interior components, and roofing system. Appliances/ systems: apply for kitchen appliances, laundry, air conditioning, and heating system.

4.2 The interface The web-based model combines data collection of homebuyers’ profile and requirements, and a design configuration system. The interface tends to simulates the interaction that usually takes place between a homebuyer and an architect. The first series of questions aims at identifying the demographic data, thus directing the search towards housing models that would be suitable for that specific case. Furthermore, the second series aims at minimizing the search pool by identifying psychographic qualities; lifestyle and spatial needs. For example, if the client needs to work at home, then a home office has to be considered. The outcome of this phase will be a set of housing models that correspond to homebuyers’ entered data. At each step, when the homebuyer answers a question, the system eliminates the models that are not suitable for the selection. In other words, it can be said that the search engine is based on IF/THEN/ELSE logic. Once a model is selected by the homebuyer, then there are two options to select from: first, to purchase the unit, or proceed to layout configuration, then appearance and systems. 4.3 Configuration system: space layout and design The configuration tool aims at offering homebuyers the opportunity to modify the plan layout and room sizes, through configuring space adjacency, while maintaining the building perimeter. Four of the best selling housing models that serve the studied market sector; affordable retirement homes for seniors, were chosen for redesign and alternatives generation. The first step was to provide various alternatives for each model, while preserving the building perimeter in order to keep the models’ identity. Layouts were manipulated by exchanging locations of various components in the public zone of the house such as the living room, dining room and the kitchen. Then, work on developing alternative layouts for kitchen and bathroom, as they are considered dynamic spaces within the layout. Following the main theme of the interface; 26

being interactive, two or three layout alternatives will be displayed once the homebuyer selects one of the models. The variation between the plans is considered with space layout and allocation, in order to fit a variety of needs. Once a layout is chosen, the process advances to further selection of individual spaces that is fully operated by the homebuyer. At this stage, three different layouts for kitchen and bathroom are displayed consecutively, to offer a potential reflection of homebuyer’s lifestyle. A cost indicator is also available under the optional layouts providing a constant update of the collective financial result of making decisions. The housing alternatives are designed around the concept of standardizing of the components as much as possible, to promote inter-changeability. Standardization aims at creating common architectural/structural features to reduce production cost. 4.4 Configuration system: finishes and appliances Once the space adjacency, the building and spaces layout have been decided, the rest of the configuration procedures are considered with the appearance of the housing unit, with regard to external/internal finishes, appliances, roof system, and other technical systems. The notion of customizing building components through an interactive interface has been a popular approach and even implemented by several modular prefabricated housing manufacturers. The process would be supported with high-quality visualization in order to facilitate the decision making process, as many homebuyers are not experienced enough to visualize architectural features. Additionally, in response to the explored market sectors within this research; retired seniors, and a consumer driven approach; extra features could be added to support the concept of aging in place. This could include new approaches to aging in place, using technology to contribute to the quality of inhabitant’s life, such as smart systems, home automation, security, communication, and health support, in addition to conventional design elements. Such features would be part of the selection process, improving the configuration experience by responding to homebuyers’ specific needs. 4 .5 I mp l e m e n t a t i o n In order to implement the described configuration system, there are a series of steps that a prefabricated housing company would be required to pur-

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

sue. The following steps would explain the process with more details: Develop a comprehensive product platform: one of the main fundamentals of implementing mass customization is developing a product platform to provide the necessary taxonomy for positioning different products and the structure describing the interrelationship among various products with regard to customer requirements, and elements processes. Such process involves improving functional and technical variety of the products within the platform. While functional variety is used to describe any differentiation in the attributes related to products functionality, technical variety is concerned with diverse technology, design methods, manufacturing processes, components and assemblies. Normally, functional variety relates to customer satisfaction, yet technical variety involves manufacturability and costs. One of the main challenges within this application was to develop a product family; housing catalogue, for the studied company. In order to examine the concept, the author developed different alternatives for four housing prototypes recommended by the company as “successful models” from the 100 k houses series. A product family tree was developed, offering various alternatives for each prototype, while supporting the concept of commonality especially within bathrooms and kitchen spaces. Such approach aimed at enhancing functional and technical variety.

Develop parametric, three- dimensional BIM models for the housing prototypes: the outcome of a detailed study of five prefabricated housing companies operating in the Quebec market, including the company under focus in this research, demonstrated that one of the major technical challenges to implement mass customization is that any design modification, even minor ones, could lead to developing a new model, in addition to overhead cost of accommodating modifications. In order to overcome such cases, companies are encouraged to employ parametric, in addition to Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools. BIM creates the means by which architects, engineers, planners, builders and fabricators can communicate together in a fully integrated environment. It forms the basis for design, and contains all the information required for the development of fabrication, and assembly of the housing unit. Additionally, it would also enable accommodating design variations efficiently, through the concept of interoperability, defined as the ability to exchange data between applications towards developing an efficient workflow and facilitating its automation. The outcome of such integration would be efficient structural and technical coordination, maintenance of information and design model integrity, collaboration in design and production through better management of parts schedules of procurement, an understandable approach to sequence of 27

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Figure 4. Screen shot of the selected housing layout, and the step of selecting individual room blocks for the kitchen space.

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

Figure 5. Implementation process diagram.

assembly, and greater control over fabrication, assembly, and building. Develop search engine methodology: efficiently translate the relationship between homebuyers profile and housing prototypes classification. The system proposed a matching methodology based on exploring homebuyers’ profiles with regard to demographic and psychographic qualities, then linking them to housing classification. Develop an appropriate method of presentation: 2D drawings, supported by 3D models, renderings, easy to interpret by homebuyers who might lack sufficient design experience. 28

Develop an interactive browser -based interface: given that the configuration process would operate over the internet, through the company’s website, the quality, structure, and the design of the interface plays an important role in the process as it represents the medium of a virtual dialogue between homebuyer and designer. As proposed earlier, the layout of the first phase focuses on user profiling process. Second, the search processes whose core element is the matching algorithm. Finally, the configuration process which covers various levels of customization.

A c k n o w l e dg e m e n t The authors would like to thank Alouette Homes, a leading prefabricated housing company in Quebec, for taking part in this research project.

References BLECKER, THORSTEN, AND GERHARD FRIEDRICH, eds. 2006, Mass Customization: challenges and solutions. New York: Springer. Blu Homes ,Webpage, Sept. 2012. http://www.bluhomes.com/ Société Québécoise des Manufacturiers d’Habitation (SQMH). 2008, Enquete sur l'industrie de la Maison Usinee Au Quebec, Montreal, Canada, March 15. CHANDRA, CHARU, AND ALI K.KAMRANI. 2004, Mass Customization: A supply chain approach. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. CLAYTON RESEARCH ASSOCIATED LTD. 2006, Profile and Prospects of the Factory-Built Housing Industry in Canada. Ottawa: CMHC, March 31.

29

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

Mass customization has become an important business strategy for several types of companies. It is an outcome of compulsory flexibility and quick responsiveness to changes for companies, in view of current levels of market globalization, rapid technological innovations, and intense competition. In order to implement mass customization, it is necessary to integrate various manufacturing technologies into a structured framework capable of combining human and technological factors. The last two decades witnessed remarkable interest in digital design and prefabrication techniques, developing in multiple forms and constituencies, thus opening new territories for innovation that reconstitute the relationship between design and production. With regards to design, nowadays BIM tools automatically and systematically merge all project information into a single file, track required materials and products, and thus eliminating boundaries between design and construction, and strengthening the connection between architects, manufacturers, and builders. On the other hand, digital fabrication methods have the abilities to handle complexities of manufacturing of various components, while reducing waste. These technologies have been playing a very important role toward enabling mass customization of the prefabricated housing industry. In that sense, the role of the architect is becoming more directed towards developing, and structuring systems, rather than just products, thus orchestrating the relationship between various participants in ht customization process. In fact, such an approach is logical, as the degree at which architects involvement in the design of prefabricated housing is remarkably limited. Based on application of formerly mentioned technologies, the ultimate goal of this research was to devise a methodology for an advanced configuration system for customization of prefabricated housing. The proposed system drives its logic from establishing a direct connection between a specific category of homebuyers; seniors seeking retirement homes, to a builder through a browser-based configuration system. Such a category represents a literally significant percentage of total number of prefabricated housing companies clients in Quebec, and they are usually looking for specific design elements and features, at an affordable price. The interactive configuration system tends to simulate homebuyer/architect dialogue,

thus overcoming various challenges that might face homebuyers when acquiring a prefabricated housing unit. The system’s primary function is a search engine, initialized by input, then filtering users’ profile data. The search logic employs if/then/else functions to search through a database of housing prototypes, classified according to a specific criteria; area, price, number of floors, and spatial arrangements. Once a model is selected, further configuration options are offered; room blocks, exterior and interior finishes, and systems, till the homebuyer reviews the final design and becomes ready to finalize the buying process. The system demonstrated a potential applicability within the company explored in this research. Yet, one of the challenges that face configuration systems is that in some cases, the number of alternatives has to be limited to three or four options in order to avoid additional overhead cost. Future research will explore computational approaches to enable higher level of customization.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

5. Concl usion

Avi Friedman, Aaron Sprecher & Basem Eid Mohamed

Connecthomes ,Webpage, Sept. 2012. http://www.connect-homes.com/

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 A Computer-Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing.

KIERAN, STEPHEN, AND JAMES TIMBERLAKE. 2004, Refabricating Architecture: How Manufacturing Methodologies are Poised to Transform Building Construction. New York: McGraw – Hill.

DA SILVEIRA ,GIOVANI, DENIS BORENSTEIN, AND FLAHVIO S. FOGLIATTO. 2001, Mass customization: Literature review and research directions. International Journal of Production Economics , 1-13. DUARTE, J. P. 2001, Customizing Mass Housing: A Discursive Grammar for Siza's Malagueira Houses. Massachussets: MIT. DA SILVEIRA ,GIOVANI, DENIS BORENSTEIN, FLAHVIO S. FOGLIATTO. 2001, Mass customization: Literature review and research directions. International Journal of Production Economics , 1-13.

LARSON, KENT, TAPIA, MARK, AND JOSE-PINTO DUARTE, 2001. A new epoch: Automated design tools for the mass customization of housing. Architecture and Urbanism. vol.03 :111-116 LIVINGHOMES ,WEBPAGE, Sept. 2012. http://www.livinghomes.net/primer.html MARMOL RADZINER ,WEBPAGE, Sept. 2012. http://www.marmol-radziner.com/ MONTANER, MIQUEL, B. LOPEZ, AND J. ROSA, 2003, A Taxonomy of Recommender Agents on the Internet, Artificial Intelligence Review, vol. 19, page. 285-330. TSENG, MICHAEL , AND FRANK PILLER TSENG, EDS, 2003. The Customer Centric Enterprise: Advances in Mass Customization and Personalization. Singapore: World scientific publoshing Ltd. PINE, B. 1993. Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. STATISTICS CANADA, 2008, CYB Overview 2006: Population and Demography, retrieved 11 August 20011, from .

30

Authur(s): Avi Friedman Professor, [email protected] McGill University School of Architecture Aaron Sprecher Assistant Professor, [email protected] McGill University School of Architecture Basem Eid Mohamed PhD candidate [email protected] McGill University School of Architecture

TOWARDS INCLUSIVE CAMPUS ENVIRONMENTS: EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH OF A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Abstract Planning and design of university campuses is as important as the instructional philosophy of universities for determining academic and social development of university students. However, mainstream university campuses have often been designed with typical “normal” or “abled” users in mind and have neglected the needs of students with physical, sensory, and developmental disabilities. Universal design perspective with its equality, social inclusion and social justice agenda can be helpful in giving insights for inclusive educational environments. This study presents a research based design process conducted at a university campus in Turkey to create an inclusive educational environment for the students with disabilities, and to improve their participation in campus’ academic and social life. For this purpose, existing campus spaces were evaluated for their inclusiveness both objectively through a checklist and subjectively through participatory workshops and meetings. The findings from both studies were used to identify the needs of the users with disabilities in the campus’ settings. The results obtained from these studies were used to inform the implementations , and a holistic plan for creating an inclusive campus environment was developed. This study provides the implications for architectural and urban needs of users with physical, sensory, and vision disabilities or restraints in campus environments, develops methodology for future studies with similar context, and informs about the challenges and opportunities present in the process of creating inclusive university campus environments.. Keywords: University Campuses, Students with Disabilities, Participation, Universal Design, Inclusivity.

INTRODUCTION The notion of inclusivity has its roots in the Nordic normalization principle, which can be defined as “making available to those with learning and physical difficulties conditions of everyday life which are as close as possible to the norms and patterns of the mainstream of life,” (Nirje 1969). Throughout the years, this normalization approach changed first to integration of excluded and marginalized persons to the mainstream, then to inclusion, and later to inclusivity (Berlach & Chambers 2010). Different from stereotyping present in integration, inclusion embraces diversity and celebrates differences of individuals. Nowadays, the concept of inclusivity is being used to connote environments and services that are diverse and pluralistic in nature “where people can find a niche” (Taylor 2007) and this study follows this approach to inclusivity. Inclusivity has been seen as a societal goal and social integration is considered a prerequisite for an inclusive society. Whereas social integration implies a community “which has room for diversity”, social inclusion refers to the “actual process

involved in promoting social integration” (DESA 2009). Full participation in all aspects of life, equal opportunities, and equal access for all are fundamental determinants of social inclusion (DESA 2009). The contemporary model of disability posits that the disablement/enablement processes result from the interaction between persons and the surrounding environmental and societal factors (ICF 2001; Gleeson 1996; Steinfeld 2010). Within this framework, while certain barriers or processes that impede inclusion may exclude and marginalize people with disabilities (Chouinad 1997; Imrie & Hall 2001), enabling environments that foster social inclusion can also be created. Despite their theoretical differences, this belief has been central to the concepts of “inclusive design” of the UK, “universal design” of the USA, and “the design for all” of the mainstream Europe, which all asserted socio-spatial ideas to support full participation of all users with diverse abilities in all aspects of life. In this study, universal design (UD) will be used as an umbrella term to cover all these approaches for inclusivity. 31

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Evrim Demir Mishchenko

Evrim Demir Mishchenko open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

UD often cited with Mace and his colleagues’ (CUD 1997) definition, means design of products and environments usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without a need for adaptation or specialized design (Story, Mueller & Mace 1998; Ostroff 2001). UD defines seven basic principles to orient the designs: equitable use, flexibility in use, intuitive use, perceptible information, tolerance for errors, low physical efforts, and size and space for approach and use (CUD 1997). Rather than setting a set of rules, UD proposes a design approach with an expanded agenda, which are design for equality, social inclusion and social justice by design (Ostroff 2001; Steinfeld 2010). In this sense, the aforementioned concept of inclusivity, advocating equal access, equal opportunities and full participation in all aspects of life by all, is closely associated with UDs. An inclusive public environment should provide equal quality physical access, social access, and access to activities, information and resources to everyone (Akkar 2005). On the other hand, inclusion in society and education has been considered as a requirement of democracy in the community (Dewey 1916). Inclusive education, as one of the staples of the process of equalization of opportunities (UN 2009), seen through the lens of the UD concept, therefore relies not only on educational services, but also on the societal and physical environment. According to Foreman (2008), inclusivity concept in education “extends well beyond students with a disability, and encompasses the idea … to provide optimal learning environments for all ...students, regardless of their social, cultural or ethnic background, or their ability or disability”. In the case of higher education, inclusiveness of a university is determined by its educational curricula to meet diverse needs of students with disabilities or learning differences, and the socio-spatial milieu of its campus environment to support independent living (Barnes 2003) and full participation of all students in daily activities. Likewise, the variety of educational, social, cultural and recreational spaces of the university campuses plays an important role in professional, academic, and social development and maturation of university students. However, mainstream campus practices worldwide are often designed with “normal” or “abled” users in consideration and lack inclusiveness for those with physical, sensory, vision, or developmental disabilities and restrictions. Providing inclusive campus environments that respond to the social and spatial needs of this 32

diverse population, however, is a prerequisite for creating equal opportunity in higher education. Current architectural and urban design practices in Turkey have presented similar trends where needs of special user groups have been often ignored. Conversely, in 2005, the Turkish Disability Law was passed to regulate accessibility of built environments for individuals with disabilities, and stipulates that all services and areas open to public use should be designed and arranged in a way that enables access of these individuals. Therefore, the universities in Turkey are now by law required to undertake improvements to alter their physical environments and educational and social services to meet the needs of users with disabilities. To date, such improvement practices relied mostly on individual attempts at physical alterations (e.g. building ramps) that often failed to meet desired outcomes – inclusiveness of the campus environments. Rather than such patch-like actions, this study argues that, in order to successfully create a truly inclusive university campus, a more systematic and holistic approach supported by evidencebased research is required. The present study is a case study reporting from the evidence based design process of an inclusive university campus in Turkey. Combining a UD approach with campus planning and design, it provides implications for architectural and urban needs of users with physical, sensory, and vision impairments in campus environments, develops methodology for future studies with similar context, and informs about the challenges and opportunities present in the process of creating inclusive university campuses. U S E R S W I T H DI S A B I L I T IE S A N D U N IVERSITY CAMPUSES In accordance with the growing number of students with disabilities in higher education in the new century (Riddell, Tinklin & Wilson 2005) disability literature related to the university contexts is growing. Studies exploring students’ experiences in higher education have been conducted, informing about the problems and needs of this diverse user group and giving insights on societal dynamics in inclusive education (Riddell et al 2005; Goode 2007; Madriaga 2010). On the other hand, studies that have explicitly focused on the physical environments of the university campuses in relation to users with dis-

MERSIN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS – A CASE STUDY Mersin University, located in the newly developing part of the city of Mersin, Turkey, is a state university with more than 25000 students. The university campus, occupying over 370 acres of land, was developed in 1992 around a single master plani. Due to the hilly topography of the area, the main site design concept consisted of two parallel linear strips: one for the campus buildings and one for the recreational campus green. The linear buildings strip was formed using a pedestrian alley cutting through the academic buildings situated on its both sides. The continuous alley expanded into a main square at a central location, and the majority of social and cultural spaces on campus were placed around this main square. The vehicular traffic looped around a dense academic area, and the campus could be reached by public transportation, bikes, or private cars. The main goal of the present study is to understand the environmental problems and needs of the users with disabilities on this campus, and to use these findings to inform inclusive planning and design activities on this campus. Following UD approach and the guiding principles, a compre33

Evrim Demir Mishchenko

on campus and inaccessibility of campus spaces isolated such students from interactions with others, emphasizing their disabled identities (Low 1996). Most universities follow certain guidelines in planning and design of their campuses (Newbern 2006). Mostly normative, these guidelines to date have not been supported with empirical research. In order to create truly livable and inclusive campus environments, an evidence based research process should be used to inform planning and design of university campuses. In the present campus design practices, “architecture” is put first, sometimes at the expense of the user (Friedman 2005), underscoring the importance of a new user based methodologies for university campus planning and design. For instance, application of UD concepts of inclusiveness, access, and equality to higher education settings, covering both the instructions and physical environments, is crucial for creating inclusive universities. Participation of diverse user groups in this process will result in better and informed design decisions. Campus environments that neglected such a process often have to go through a piecemeal retrofitting to achieve inclusion and access.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

abilities are relatively scarce. We know that some of the major problems that people with disabilities have to confront result from the environments being themselves “disabling” (Knapp 2008). Physical obstacles, for example, along with social and psychological barriers, can exist in different settings and may confront users with any of the different disability types. In cases in the UK and Ireland, physical access has still been found to be a serious obstacle to full participation (Shevlin, Kenny &McNeela 2004). However, the difficult task of designing a freely accessible environment by all and the constraints imposed by the built environment and economic climate has been underlined (Chard & Couch 1998). The cumulative effect of barriers facing the users on a daily basis, such as minor access issues on campus hampering independence, has been stressed (Riddell et al. 2005). In another UK case, accessibility assessment of the campus for different groups has been conducted as a part of a disability and awareness project for educational purposes (Treby, Hewitt &Shah 2006). Similarly, types of barriers and facilitators for different impairment groups have been investigated in a US case. Whereas structural barriers were prevalent for wheelchair users and persons with mobility impairments, wayfinding constituted a barrier group for visual impairments (Thapar et al. 2004). In another study, a US campus was analyzed in relation to the UD concept and visitability, emphasizing how universal design principles could be applied to the design of university campuses (Lissner 2007) A decade after the amendment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, the accessibility survey of a US university’s campuses showed that ADA compliant implementations were uneven across the campuses and transportation, and communication barriers still existed even at the most accessible of the campuses. The study results confirmed the need for actions based on a systematic professional evaluation of the campuses (Knapp 2008). In an exploratory study conducted in a Canadian case, environmental negotiation was found to be one of the main three processes the students had to go through during their university life (Low 1996). Differently from their “abled” peers, students with disabilities faced qualitatively different problems in campus environments (e.g. not only access but also time). Certain physical features were crucial for these students in their daily life

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

Evrim Demir Mishchenko

map; detailed information such as the type of the barrier, reasons for it being a barrier, etc. were documented; photos and measurements were taken as needed. After the data collection, findings were coded into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and an inclusiveness database of the campus was created (fig. 1) where several spatial and statistical analyses were done to identify the role of different barriers for inclusiveness of the university campus environments. Separate analyses were done for campus outdoors and each of the buildings on the campus. C a mp u s o u t d o o r s :

Figure 1. Barrier map for campus outdoors (analyzed in GIS and categorized according to barrier types).

hensive checklist for inclusiveness of the campus was developed prior to this study (DemirMishchenko et al. 2010) The university campus was evaluated for its inclusiveness utilizing different evaluation methods: (i) using the checklist the campus environments and services were objectively examined for their inclusiveness and barriers to inclusiveness were identified; (ii) through workshops, meetings, and charettes the campus was analyzed using subjective evaluation by the users with special needs. 1. Objective analysis of the campus environment Throughout the duration of four months, eight researchers carried out field studies and documented the barriers to inclusiveness on campus using the comprehensive objective instrument in the form of a detailed checklist. Using the building and campus plans, four groups of two investigators each conducted the field works, examining outdoor spaces first and then building interiors. When a barrier was identified, location of the barrier was noted on a 34

Descriptive statistics were used to reveal general patterns of the common problems present at the campus’ outdoors. Out of 439 barriers analyzed, stairs (40%) were the most frequently observed type of barrier, followed by level differences (34%). Whereas level differences included sudden changes in topography that were not leveled by accessible means, stairs included the areas where there was no other means of access for users unable to use the stairs (ramps, lifts, etc.), stairs were not designed to provide convenient use by all users (handrails, surface material etc.), or stairs were well designed but not maintained. Temporary and fixed obstacles (21%) such as city furniture and landscaping that were not positioned or maintained properly constituted the third most frequently observed barrier type on the campus outdoors (fig. 2). When categorically analyzed, problems observed for campus outdoors could be grouped under vertical movement problems, design solutions not complying with standards, maintenance, repair, and detailing problems, horizontal movement problems, parking area problems, and signage and alert system problems (fig. 2). These findings showed that creating inclusive campuses should rely not only on planning and design but also on detailing, quality, and proper maintenance of constructions, underlining importance of a process rather than project based approach to inclusive design. Barriers for inclusiveness were also studied in terms of disability groups, including such with physical, sensory, and vision problems. Within a daily routine of a student with orthopedic disabilities and restraints, for example, level differences, steep ramps, stairs with numerous steps, absence of handrails, moveable or fixed obstacles on walkways, slippery, rough or not sturdy surface materials,

Evrim Demir Mishchenko

and not properly maintained areas - all created limitations for campus space use. Rather than presence of a ramp only, the ramp’s dimensions, color, material, and accompanying functional accessories such as handrails as well as how these were maintained defined the ease of use. For users with vision problems, obstacles on walkways that were difficult to perceive horizontally and vertically, limited use of color contrasts in built environment, limited or absent tactile surface indicators on the ground restricted the space use. Since such users rely on tactile features or color differences for way-finding or perceiving their environment, integrating such features in design of pedestrian paths and sidewalks were found to be especially important for this user group. Lack of audio alert systems or tactile signs, such as those embossed with Braille, limited vision impaired users in their ability to move freely on the campus. Individuals with hearing and speaking problems could be, at first glance, thought not to be affected by the physical environment. However, these individuals were affected by lack of signage and similar way-finding cues such as pictograms on signage and visual alert systems. Similarly, spatial problems resulting from bad acoustics and bad lighting negatively affected these individuals, since they could be using hearing devices or lip-reading.

Campus buildings: Educational buildings serving eight colleges, common academic and social uses on campus (library, conference halls, stadium, sports complex, dining and retail areas) were also evaluated objectively using the checklist. Problems were identified for each building and analyzed both in terms of the type of the problem and the disability type (fig. 3). Overall, campus indoors presented similar problems to that of the outdoors in terms of meeting the needs of the users with disabilities: ease of horizontal and vertical movement within the buildings, improper design and construction, practices not complying with standards, signage and alert system problems, and visual and sensory deficiencies in the built environments. In addition, it was found that spatial needs of users with disabilities that were critical for them to maintain certain academic activities were also neglected. As a common practice, level differences at the main entrances to the buildings, both within the same floor and between floors, were in the form of steps or stairs with no alternate form of vertical circulation, making these the most frequent barrier type for inclusiveness. When continuity of the same level could not be maintained, these areas ideally 35

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

Figure 2. Examples of barriers identified on campus outdoors

Evrim Demir Mishchenko open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

Figure 3. An example of the buildings’evaluation: Building plans with the location and the code given to the barrier.

should have been designed to allow movement of all users using ramps, platforms, stair lifts, or elevators. Narrow corridors, either by dimensions or due to obstructions such as fire extinguishers, trash cans, furniture, etc., dark corridors with insufficient natural or artificial lighting - all limited ease of movement between rooms and, thus, created barriers for horizontal movement of users with disabilities. Signage and alert systems that contained visual, audio, and tactile features for use by users with different types of disability were not present. Absence of signage or use of small sized and illegible fonts and improper placement were often observed as another common problem for equitable use of space. Similar to outdoors, practices that did not comply with the standards - such as stairs or ramps without handrails, high steps, steep ramps, improperly equipped toilets - were also widely observed. Other than design of these areas, deterioration over time was another issue of concern for inclusiveness, which could be overcome easily by using good detailing and construction materials and timely maintenance. Interior design of buildings was also crucial in academic and 36

social inclusiveness. For example, improper furniture in classrooms and labs limited comfortable use of these facilities by students with mobility constraints. Underscoring that inclusiveness happens at different scales, interlinked to each other, it is obvious that both access to and within the building as well as appropriate furniture design are necessary. 2 . S u b j e c t i ve a n a l y s i s o f t h e c a m pu s e n v i r o n me n t : M e e t i n g s a n d p a r t i c i pa tory workshop Benefits of community participation have been widely recognized in planning and design of educational settings (Sanoff 2009). For this reason, three meetings were organized over a period of five months with participation of students with and without disabilities, academic advisors from different departments of the university, and the staff of the University’s “barrier-free life” unit. These meetings were aimed at understanding the inclusiveness of the campus and the social and spatial needs of all different campus “stakeholders” who would be

Evrim Demir Mishchenko

affected by design decisions, including the students with disabilities. In the last meeting, a participatory design workshop that was aimed at identifying spatial problems of the students with disabilities on the campus and creating the input for ongoing campus improvements was organized (fig. 4). Twenty-one students with different disabilities, four academic advisors, nine undergraduate students from architecture and psychology departments participated in this group work. Four small groups were formed, where trained earlier students from the department of architecture formed the small group facilitators. Psychology students assisted the participants with communication and note taking, and architecture students - with spatial orientation on the map. The workshop was moderated by a professor from the department of architecture. Each small group was given a large campus map, several colored papers, and markers. The workshop was structured around four main topics: areas preventing access and inclusion, areas supporting access and inclusion, daily routes of use, and user wishes. In the first topic, each participant wrote down their top three places, areas, or spots that they thought presented a barrier for them on the campus as well as their reasons for selecting these places (fig. 4). After this, each member shared their barriers, and through a group discussion the barriers on the campus were identified and marked on the map, resulting in a campus barrier map for each group. In total, fifty problematic aspects were identified in these small groups. A considerable variety of barriers were listed, and utilizing content analysis several groups were formed. A majority of the barriers noted by the participants were related to the

campus’ outdoors rather than indoors. Interestingly, the most frequently mentioned barrier group was related to users’ orientation and way-finding on the campus (18%). Students with different disability types, mostly those with vision and hearing/speaking difficulties, stated that they relied on spatial information provided by signs for navigating on the campus. In cases where such signage was missing or not designed properly, the students with disabilities could not create a mental map of the campus spaces, or felt insecure to proceed, limiting the extent of campus space use. For these reasons some of the participants had never been to some of the social and recreational areas on the campus, and some did not even know of such areas at all. Daily space use routine for students with sensory and vision disabilities were confined to the areas with a smaller radius than that of the students without disabilities. The second frequently cited problem was related to the social areas (16%) on the campus. Regardless of the disability type, students with disabilities stated actual or perceived barriers obstructing their integration into the campus’ social life. Whereas desire to participate in social activities with their peers was expressed, social places on the campus, such as cafes, dining areas, cultural facility halls, sports hall, and similar commons were identified as not being planned and designed for the needs of these students. Even though one could think that the academic activities would be of utmost importance for the university students, the items the students with disabilities listed demonstrated that they gave high importance to the social spaces on campus as well. Therefore, campus environment should provide students with ability to engage in different academic, social, and cultural activities, and to contribute to the students’ becom37

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

Figure 4. Participatory workshop with students with disabilities

Evrim Demir Mishchenko open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

ing active members of the university campus’ life. Such a scenario put the walkways, pedestrian areas and spaces, and connections between buildings, planned and designed with regard to the users with disabilities, as much important as the actual academic units. Following this, the participants worked on the campus map in small groups to identify the most inclusive and accessible places, spots, or areas on the campus (fig. 4). These two consecutive sessions resulted in the campus map showing inclusive areas and the problem areas, marked in two different colors, as well as the explanations next to them. Pedestrian walkways with clear geometry, providing defined path maps for users, were praised for their ease of use by the workshop participants with vision problems. In public squares or plazas, stairs with multiple changes in direction were indicated as challenging to use. Participants with hearing constraints stated that the areas with combined vehicular and pedestrian traffic were stressful for them, limiting their campus use. As an alternative, the pedestrian alley cutting through the buildings linearly was praised and viewed as inclusive. The same alley was considered inclusive due to its clear cut and defined shape, easing orientation. Third, each small group was requested to show on the map the routes that the participants used or needed on the campus the most. After a review of the participants’ daily activities, each group marked their cumulative frequent routes on the map. At the end of this stage, other than the “good” and the “bad” places, in terms of inclusion, the routes that should be designed as a priority were shown on the campus map. Fourth and the last stage was identification of the key inclusiveness aspects of the campus environments that are desired by the students with disabilities. Participants were asked to complete “I wish…. at Mersin University” phrase (Sanoff 2009), and the final “wish-list” included twenty nine distinct points. An analysis of these revealed that the students with disabilities were most concerned about the social aspects of the campus life, with a score of 38%. Because they considered the social and recreational areas on the campus equally important as the academic areas for their inclusion, the students wanted to have equal access to the main social center on the campus, where cafes, dining hall, retail shops, and banks were located, and to the university’s pool and gym, which they could not access at the moment. The students also indicated 38

Figure 5. Design proposal for accessible routes with the priority phasing

their need to be able to “wander around” on the campus “freely” and on their own. Other wishes included accessible outdoor rest areas with sun protection, installing big sized campus maps at multiple locations on the campus, expanding information media on the campus, etc. General wishes were also listed, such as having the campus designed properly for all users and having access needs of all users considered at the initial campus planning and design stage rather than via postoccupancy modifications. At the end of the participatory workshop, the campus maps developed by all groups were reviewed. Routes of primary use were determined, depending on the use patterns. The places that needed immediate attention and the areas that had successful design were identified. Information thus collected through both the objective and subjective methods was gathered and used to inform the spatial improvement programs on the campus, and to enable knowledge-based phasing of such practices (fig. 5). Because of the university’s limited budget sources, phasing of the findings of this evidencebased design program was important. The numerical comparison of the number of problems and areas identified by the checklist and by the workshop were not comparable, with the checklist indicating almost five times as many problems as the workshop. For this there may be

Figure 6A

Figure 6b.

two possible explanations: The checklist studies were conducted by people with technical knowledge of the relevant issues and might have given a more complete picture of the campus’ environments, or, due to physical obstacles on the campus, the students with disabilities could not use all of the campus areas and, thus, were not aware of the obstacles at some of the parts of the campus. Regardless of the explanation, the process required technical information as well as user information,

validating the need for incorporation of both methods in the campus planning revision strategy.

39

Evrim Demir Mishchenko open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

Figures 6A - 6B:Examples of initial design modifications implemented on campus during the research process

Evrim Demir Mishchenko open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

C O N C L U S IO N University campuses with their master plans, site designs, and buildings play an important role in daily and academic activities of students with disabilities. Understanding the problems that university students with disabilities face is important to make proper steps for their solutions. The identification of such problems requires application of different methods and techniques, where a single method may fail to identify all problems related to inclusiveness. Objective methods such as checklists, when done systematically and assuming the checklist is comprehensive, provide opportunities to understand existing physical constraints and their distribution on campuses. At the same time, participatory techniques such as design workshops are crucial not only to empower the students with disabilities but to also understand their problems via firsthand experience. These studies can reveal information that may not be obtained by the other methods such as checklists. The combination of the objective and subjective methods, therefore, has the most overall benefit. Combination of the two methods enabled the knowledge-based implementation of the strategies for inclusivity improvements of the campus. Future modifications and renovations were scheduled after developing a master plan, where accessible routes were identified together with their priorities (fig. 5). Then, specific design modifications were identified and the design solutions were developed, taking into consideration results of this research (fig. 6). Considering that accessibility of spaces is interrelated, and breaking one of the links in a chain of accessible spaces may result in inaccessibility of the entire chain, such holistic approach for campus planning and design results in more usable and overall more inclusive environments. Participation of different groups, including students with disabilities, academic advisors, and university administration was important in this study. Seeing such “collaborative events” as an opportunity for active inclusion, awareness-raising and empowerment resulted in effective participation venues and designs that were not only usable but also accepted by majority of the space “stakeholders”. Participation of the university administration served to increase their awareness and helped modifications to be implemented in a shorter time. Bridging the information gained through such research to practice is a challenging process, however. Implementation of proposed alterations 40

on the campus presented certain challenges, especially due to lack of relevant technical knowledge on the side of the contractors responsible for implementation of improvements. Selection of inappropriate materials for construction was widely observed. Participation of these categories of people and informing them about the needs of the people with disabilities is very important for proper implementations. The key to providing inclusive campus environments lies in applying the universal design principles in regards to the users with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities to campus planning and design process from the beginning, and making these the most fundamental criteria for campus planning and design. When initial design is not shaped with UD in mind, retrofitting does not always provide equality in access. Since physical environments play an important role in the higher education process, providing campus environments with the same quality of access and use for all users, not just for academic but also social life, will bring educational and social equity and diversity to university campuses and will result in inclusive education and better educational outcomes for all users.

ACKNOWL EDGMENTS The author acknowledges F. Zorlu’s and A. Bitigen’s help and input in the first part of the research (the objective evaluation of the campus) financially supported by the EU under Civil Society Dialogue grant. She thanks the eight researchers who helped with the field work in the first part of the research; Mersin University Disability Service and Coordination Commission and Barrier-free Life Unit of Mersin University who helped with the organization of the meetings at the second part of the research, and the students who facilitated and participated at the design workshop for their time and input. She also thanks the anonymous referees for their constructive critiques and suggestions.

AKKAR, M. 2005, Questioning ‘inclusivity’ of public spaces in post-industrial cities: The case of Haymarket Bus Station, Newcastle upon Tyne, METU Journal of Faculty of Architecture. 22(2): 1-24.

GOODE, J. 2007, ‘Managing’ disability: early experiences of university students with disabilities, Disability & Society, 22:1, 35-48

BARNES, C. 2003, Independent Living, Politics and Implications, Gladnet at DigitalCommons@ILR.

ICF. 2001, International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health, World Health Organization.

BERLACH, R. G. & CHAMBERS, D. J. 2010, Inclusivity Imperatives and the Australian National Curriculum, The Educational Forum, 75:1, 52-65

IMRIE, R. &HALL, P. 2001, Inclusive Design: Designing and Developing Accessible Environments, Taylor & Francis.

CHARD, G. & COUCH, R. 1998, Access to Higher Education for the Disabled Student: A building survey at the University of Liverpool, Disability & Society, Vol. 13, Iss. 4.

KNAPP, S.D. 2008, Why Diversity Should Include Disability with Practical Suggestions for Academic Unions, American Academic, March 08 V4 105-130.

CHOUINARD, V., 1997, Making space for disabling differences: Challenging ableist geographies. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 15, 379–387. CUD 1997, The Principles of Universal Design (Version 2.0), The Center for Universal Design, Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University. DEMIR-MISHCHENKO, E., ZORLU, F., TSALIS, P., NANIOPOULOS, A. & NALMPANTIS, D. 2010, ACTUS Guidebook: Accessibility of the University Campus for People with Disabilities, Naniopoulos, A. & Gök, T. (eds.). Mersin: Mersin University Press, supported by The European Union. DESA 2009, Creating an Inclusive Society: Practical Strategies to Promote Social Integration, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs report, retrieved on 14.07.2012 at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2009/Ghan a/inclusive-society.pdf DEWEY, J. 1916, Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan FOREMAN, P. 2008, Inclusion in action, 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Thomson. FRIEDMAN, D.S. 2005, Campus Design as Critical Practice: Notes on the University of Cincinnati's New Master Plan, Places, 17(1), College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley, 12-19.

LISNER, L. S. 2007, Universal Design in the Institutional Setting, Weaving a Philosophy to Campus Planning, in Nasar, J and Evans- Cowley, J. (eds.) Universal Design and Visitability, John Glenn School of Public Affairs, Columbus, OH., 159-170. LOW, K. 1996, Negotiating Identities, negotiating environments: an interpretation of the experiences of students with disabilities, Disability & Society 11-2, 235248. MADRIAGA, M. 2010, ‘I avoid pubs and the student union like the plague’: Students with Asperger Syndrome and their negotiation of university spaces, Children’s Geographies Vol. 8, No. 1, February 2010, 23–34 NIRJE, B. 1969, The normalization principle and its human management implications, in R. Kugel, & W. Wolfensberger (Eds.), Changing patterns in residential services for the mentally retarded. Washington, D.C.: President's Committee on Mental Retardation. NEWBERN, J. 2006, The Successful Use of Design Guidelines in Campus Settings, Campus Planning and Design, American Society of Landscape Architects. OSTROFF, E. 2001, Universal Design: The New Paradigm, eds. Preiser, W.F.E., Ostroff, E., Universal Design Handbook, McGraw-Hill;1.1-1.12. RIDDELL, S., TINKLIN, T. & WILSON, A. 2005, Disabled students in higher education: Perspectives on widening access and changing policy, London: Routledge. 41

Evrim Demir Mishchenko

GLEESON, B. 1996, A geography for disabled people?, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 21, 388_396

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

R E F E R E NC E S :

Evrim Demir Mishchenko open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of A University Campus.

SANOFF, H. 2009, Research Based Design of an Elementary School, Open House International, 34-1, 916. SHEVLIN, M. KENNY, M. & MCNEELA, E. 2004, Participation in higher education for students with disabilities: an Irish perspective, Disability and Society, 19(1), 15-30. STEINFELD, E. 2010, Universal Design, International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation, 2008-2011 by the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE), available online at http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/107/, Retrieved 14.07.2012. STORY, M. F., MUELLER, J. L., & MACE, R. L. 1998, The universal design file: Designing for people of all ages and abilities. Revised Edition. The Center for Universal Design, Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University. TAYLOR, P. 2007, Urban Policies for the Social and Spatial Integration of International Migrants. UNESCO and IUAV EGM on Cosmopolitan Urbanism. THAPAR, N., WARNER, G., DRAINONI, M., WILLIAMS, S.R., DITCHFIELD, H., WIERBICKY, J. & NESATHURAI, S. 2004, A pilot study of functional access to public buildings and facilities for people with impairments, Disability and Rehabilitation, 26 (5), 280–289. TREBY, E., HEWITT, I. & SHAH, A. 2006, Embedding 'disability and access' into the geography curriculum. Teaching in Higher Education, 11 (4), pp. 413-425. UN. 2009, World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons, United Nation Report, http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=23 retrieved on 14.07.2012. NOTES: 1This part of the study was supported by the European Union under the Civil Society Dialogue grant (Budget Line:BG-UE-B2006-22 02 04 01-ELARG Contract Number: TR0604.01-03/024). 2After some of the research-based design modifications developed for the campus were implemented, the University received “Accessibility Quality Award” given by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey in December 2011. 3The University’s master plan and the design of the buildings were developed by Turkish architect Erkut Şahinbaş. Despite the good architecture, the campus design was missing almost all inclusive features for users with disabilities.

42

Author(s): Asst. Prof. Dr. Evrim Demir Mishchenko, Mersin University, Department of Architecture, Turkey. Email: [email protected]

EFFECTIVENESS OF TACTILE SURFACE INDICATORS IN ‘DESIGN FOR ALL’ CONTEXT

Abstract The aim of the study is to determine and prioritise the characteristics of the built environment that increase the effectiveness of the walking surfaces for blind and vision-impaired people. Tactile walking surface indicators are installed on the floor of indoor and outdoor built environments for guiding blind or vision-impaired people. These people perceive the walking surface by a long white cane, through the soles of their shoes or impaired vision. Based on the relevant research and published standards there is a consensus on the characteristics of tactile working surfaces in terms of design specifications, visual contrast, material and installation requirements. In order to have the right decision while using the related knowledge, the designer of a built environment should identify and prioritise the characteristics of the users. The findings of factorial analysis showed that the individual characteristics such as shoe width, stature, gender, and frequency of leaving residence and experience alone, or with help, determine the effectiveness of tactile surface indicators as the primary factor. The second important factor that can be named as perceptual characteristics of the individual is composed of long white cane usage, time of sight loss and visual efficiency type. It is found that ease of walking on tactile surfaces as ease of change in direction, ease of stay on proper course of walking and transition from truncated domes to bars are third in priority as long as they comply with the standards.

Keywords: Tactile Walking Surface Indicators, Design For All, Blind, Vision –Impaired People.

INTRODUCTION Tactile ground surface indicators enable the safe movement of people with impaired vision. A tactile walking surface indicator (TWSI) is defined as a “standardized walking surface used for information by blind or vision-impaired persons” (ISO 23599: 2012:2.16). These surfaces make it easier for blind and vision-impaired people to move and find their way in the built environment. Also, they can help any pedestrian such as elderly, children, wheel chair user in wayfinding as a landmark. There is a vast amount of literature related to tactile surfaces on experimental basis in various countries such as USA, UK, Sweden and Japan (Bentzen, Barlow, Tabor 2000, Fujisawa et al. 2010, Nakamura, Noriyoshi, Tauchi 2010, Ovstedal, Lid, Lindland 2005). Investigations on practices and research for identifying the essential requirements of attention and directional guiding patterns are settled with the publication of an ISO standard titled “Assistive products for blind and vision impaired personsTactile walking surface indicators” (ISO/DIS 23599) in 2012. Consequently, there is an agree-

ment among several sources on the dimensional characteristics and requirements for visual contrast of tactile surfaces. The objective of this paper shall be to evaluate how well these indicators that comply with the standards work for different individuals in real traffic situations. This paper tries to identify and prioritise the items for the effectiveness of these TWSIs. DEVELOPMENT OF TWSIS In wayfinding, blind or vision-impaired people use visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, tactile, thermal, and/or olfactory information from the natural or built environment. However, information from the environment is not always reliable. Therefore, tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) that are perceived by a long white cane, through soles of shoes or impaired vision are used. These indicators should be designed consistently and properly in all countries. Consequently, all people can independently travel in their environment as well as in places that they visit for the first time. 43

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

Halime Demirkan

Halime Demirkan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

The earliest studies tried to specify the design, installation and effectiveness of detectable warning surfaces that are used in various countries. In the ANSI A117.1-1980 (American National Institute) Standard tactile warnings were specified for the entire walking surface of curb-ramps in the built environments. In the ANSI A117.1-1986 (American National Standard Institute), warning textures that are later called detectable warnings were specified “on the full width and depth of curb ramps, at uncurbed intersections, at tops of stair runs, and at reflecting pools” (Bentzen et al. 2000:21). Truncated dome warning surfaces were specified in 1988, but not required under the Building Code of Australia until 1999 and later the Australian/New Zealand Standard was published (AS/NZS 1428.4–2009). In 1991, truncated dome detectable warnings were specified for blind travellers for the safety of persons with mobility impairments in the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). In the ANSI A117.1-1998 (American National Institute) Standard on accessibility, specifications for truncated dome detectable warnings of ADAAG were included. Also, the texture and visual contrast specifications were the same as ADAAG. Accessibility to the built environment was recognized internationally in 1993 by the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations 1993). Almost every country in the world signed the standard rules, and rule 5 defined all the issues of accessibility including the accessibility to the built environment. For many years, standard organisations have been developing standards and issuing guidelines addressing the needs of people with disabilities in the built environment. However, these developments were segregating diversified groups instead of dealing with the whole population (Demirkan 2007). Thus, the Expert Group of the European Commission on Full Accessibility published a report entitled ‘2010, a Europe Accessible to All’ (European Commission 2003). This report indicated the lack of awareness of designers as one of the obstacles in achieving accessibility to the built environment. In this report, “accessibility means providing buildings and places which are designed and managed to be safe, healthy, convenient and enjoyable to use by all members of society. It implies that buildings should be accessible, that they should be really usable from ground floor to the top, and that adequate means of autonomous 44

exit should be provided” (European Commission 2003:6). Accessibility should be addressed in the wider perspective of spatial planning. An accessible environment is safer and healthier, thus avoiding accidents while allowing aging people to enter. An accessible environment is more comfortable, as it is more liveable. Furthermore, it is more adaptable, as it accommodates later changes. The Expert Group of the European Commission concluded that “all legislation, standards, guidelines, etc should be designed and implemented with an aim to make the built environment accessible and usable by all those who could be expected to use it” (European Commission 2003:13). In addition, the report stated that the construction works, products of information and communication technologies should be amended considering the essential requirements to include accessibility for all. If the built environment is designed to take into account the physical dimensions of the human being, perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities should also be supported in human activities. ‘Design for All’ is an approach that aims to incorporate the needs and requirements of all individuals to the greatest extent, regardless of their abilities while using the built environment (Mace, Hardie, Plaice 1991). ‘Design for All’ approach is also referenced under the concept of ‘universal design’ in USA and ‘inclusive design’ in UK. ‘Design for All’ emphasizes that the demands of all users should be valued on equal terms and the ones that should be excluded should be made consciously (Olgunturk, Demirkan 2009). Therefore, “ design for all” is the design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality. Accessibility for all is therefore no longer limited to a minority with special needs. Designers, architects, urban designers and others should be designing buildings and objects to accommodate a diversity of people concerned by accessibility issues (Demirkan 2007). TACTILE WALKING SURFACE I N DI C A T O R S In many countries, tactile indicators are used in indoor and outdoor built environments for guiding blind and vision-impaired people. In the early years, the development of sidewalks and streets with their identifying curbs were accepted to maintain orientation and safety for blind and visionimpaired people. However, “accessibility requirements that were developed in the 1960s resulted in

Characteristic s of TWSIs TWSIs are installed on the floor of indoor and outdoor built environments for guiding people who are blind or vision-impaired. They should be detectable from the immediate environment while giving specific information to blind or visionimpaired persons. These people are in contact with TWSIs by soles of their shoes and/or by a long white cane. The effectiveness of TWSis can be analysed under the subtitles of design specifica-

Halime Demirkan Figure 1. Attention patterns.

tions, visual contrast, materials and installation requirements. According to ISO/DIS 23599:2012, the design specifications can be evaluated in terms of attention patterns and guiding patterns. An attention pattern is defined as “TWSI to call attention to a hazard only, or a hazard and a decision point” and a guiding pattern as “TWSIs to indicate a direction of travel or a landmark” (ISO/DIS 23599:2012:2). The attention pattern consists of truncated domes on a square grid oriented at 0 or 45 degrees. In attention patterns, the height (h:4-5 mm), the top diameter (d2:12-25 mm), the base diameter (d1:10 mm ± 1mm greater than the top diameter) of truncated domes and the spacing between centres of adjacent truncated domes (s: min 15 mm) should comply with the standard (Figure 1). According to ISO/DIS 23599:2012, a guiding pattern should be parallel flat-topped elongated bars or sinusoidal ribs. In flat-topped elongated bars, the height (h: 4-5 mm), the top width (b2: 17-30 mm), the base width (b1: 10 mm ± 1mm greater than the top width), the top length (l2: min 270 mm), base length (l1: 10 mm ± 1mm longer than the top) and the spacing as the distance between the axes of adjacent bars (s: min 30 mm) should comply with the standard (Figure 2). For the continuity between the ends of flat-topped elongated bars, the distance between should not be more than 30 mm. In sinusoidal rib patterns, the height of wave crests (4-5 mm), the length (min 270 mm), drainage gap (10-30 mm) and the spacing between the axes of adjacent wave crests (4052 mm) should comply with the standard. Visual contrast is important for people with low vision. According to ISO/DIS 23599:2012, there should be luminance contrast between TWISs and adjacent surfaces (greater than 30% using the Michelson Contrast formula with a minimum 45

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

the disappearance of curbs at many intersections (Bentzen et al. 2000:15). With the absence of a definite cue, it became dangerous for visionimpaired people to travel in the outdoor built environment. Different countries in the world are currently developing solutions for tactile surfaces. In Japan, the shape arrangement and height of the tactile walking surface indicators were standardized in 2001 (Japanese Industrial Standard, JIS, T5291). There are many studies that report their findings of science, technology and experience on TWSIs (Bentzen et al. 2000, Fujisawa et al. 2010, Kwok 2010, Nakamura et al. 2010). Based on these reports, ‘ease of recognition’ and ‘ease of walking on tiles’ and ‘ease of recognizing transitions from bar tiles to dome tiles’ can be efficiently achieved. While TWSIs are effective for people who are blind or vision-impaired, attention should also be paid to all pedestrians including elderly and those having mobility impairments for safe and effective use of indoor or outdoor environments. They may be installed in public facilities like subways, railway stations or on sidewalks at pedestrian crossings, railway platforms, stairs, ramps escalators, elevators and the like (Kwok 2010). The characteristics of TWSIs should be explored according to dimensional, material and durability properties. Since 2002, the European Union is working to standardize tactile surfaces. In 2004, an international venture began to develop an ISO standard titled “Assistive products for blind and vision impaired persons- Tactile walking surface indicators” and it is eventually finalized in 2012 (ISO 23599:2012). The aim of this paper is to identify and prioritise the characteristics of TWSIs with respect to the users that comply with the standards for guiding designers of the built environment. Thus, these characteristics could provide a safe and efficient built environment for all users.

Halime Demirkan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

Figure 2. Guiding patterns.

reflectance value of the lighter surface of 30%). For hazards conditions, this value should be greater than 50%. These values should be maintained throughout the lifespan of TWISs. Difference in colour between TWSIs and adjacent surfaces increase detectability. According to ISO 3864-1:2002, safety yellow is accepted to be the best colour for detectability for people with low vision. Furthermore, the surfaces should be illuminated properly to obtain visual detection of people with low vision. According to ISO/DIS 23599:2012, TWISs should be made of materials that are durable and slip resistant. The slip resistance characteristics should comply with the standards of the relevant

Figure 3. Attention pattern at a decision point

country. The installation of units should be in accordance with the relevant standards, regulations of built environment and shall take into consideration existing outdoor and indoor conditions. For safety reasons, the base surface of the TWISs should be less than 3 mm above the adjacent built environment surface and fixed to the ground. An attention pattern should be installed

Figure 4. . Attention pattern extended to the full width of the staircase

46

Halime Demirkan Figure 6. View from site (Photo by Halime Demirkan)

with minimum 560 mm of width and depth and this is the minimum width (w) to be used if it indicates a decision point (Figure 3). If the attention pattern is used to indicate a hazard, it should be extended to the full width of the hazard at a minimum distance of 300 mm from the hazard (Figure 4) A guiding pattern should be installed with a

minimum width (w) of 250 mm for direction of travel on the same line with the traveller (Figure 3). If it is approached with an angle, the minimum effective width should be 550 mm (Figure 5). There should be clearance of 600 mm at both sides. Characteristics of TWSIs are summarised in Table 1. 47

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

Figure 5. Approach at an angle to the elevator

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

Table 1. Characteristics of TWSIs (ISO 23599:2012).

48

Halime Demirkan

Findings All the data collected about the participants were itemized. The factor analysis test was used to group the related items under a factor and to order these items according to their importance. In this manner, a list of prioritised factors and their items was obtained for the design of TWSI. Initially, the principle component analysis was conducted on the correlations of 15 items. Correlation matrix was inspected to determine if the strength of the correlations among the items were

Table 2. Summary of rotated factors.

Table 3. . Prioritised three factors with the corresponding items.

reliable for factor analysis, since there were no items below 0.30, all the items were kept. Five factors were extracted with eigenvalues greater than 1. Eigenvalues indicate the amount of variance explained by each factor. Among the 5 factors, 3 of them that had at least 3 items and the rest had less, thus, these 3 factors were considered in this study. These 3 factors accounted for the 49.29% of the variance as seen in Table 2. An orthogonal factor rotation was performed using the Varimax with Kaiser Normalisation. According to Tabachnick and Fidell (1996), the item’s pure measure of the factor increases with greater loading. Items that had relationships 50% and above with the factor component were thought to describe the factor and its related scale the best, thus those items would provide the best assessment for that particular scale. The loadings of the items on these 3 factors are shown in Table 3. The factors included only the items with 0.50 or more loading weights. The prioritised factors and their related items are listed from the most important to the relatively less important. Stability of their overall body and ankle, shoe type, feel of the truncated domes and bars through the sole of their shoes were the four items that were not prioritised and included in the first three factors.

49

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

A total of 120 blind or vision-impaired adult persons (age range of 18 to 65) participated in the survey that was selected by random sampling from the database of the Federation of the Blind of Turkey. The characteristics of TWSIs were complying with the ISO 23599:2012 standard (see Table 1) and the test route was 250 metres long. All participants were allowed to practice at the site until they were familiar with the experiment procedures. The experiment was conducted in the city and the participants were always on the pedestrian road without crossing any traffic (Figure 6). Among them, 30(25%) were wearing dress or formal shoes, 41(34.17%), casual shoes with thin sole, 45(37.5%) casual shoes with thick sole and 4(3.33%) high heels. In the sample there were 46 (38.3%) females and 74 (61.7%) males. Among the 120 participants, 39 (32.5%) were blind and 81 (67.5%) were vision-impaired persons. Each participant has to complete a questionnaire. Information about their age, gender, stature, visual efficiency level, time of sight lost and frequency of leaving the residence were collected. Furthermore, data was collected related to the type, length and width of shoes of the participant. Each participant had an experience with the tactile surface that was in accordance with the ISO/DIS 23599:2012 standard either alone or with help. After experiencing the tactile surface, 6 questions were administered to each participant. They were asked to rate the stability of their overall body and ankle; feel of the truncated domes and bars through the sole of their shoes; ease of stay on proper course of walking; ease of change in direction and transition from truncated domes to bars. These were rated on 5-point Likert scale for stability (stable to unstable), sense (weak to strong) and ease of use (easy to hard).

Halime Demirkan

The experiment

Halime Demirkan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

As seen in Table 3, the individual characteristics of the blind or vision-impaired person have the highest priority. The shoe width (0.928) and stature (0.908) of an individual are the two important items in the first factor. Gender (0.885) is also an important item and it is highly correlated with shoe width (r=0.779) and stature (r=0. 838). Then it is followed by the frequency of leaving residence (0.599) and experience alone or with help (0.535) items. In a preliminary study (Tactile Surface Workshop II 2011), the first factor was composed of shoe width (0.91), gender (0.89), stature (0.88), frequency of leaving the residence (0.70) and visual efficiency level (0.52), where the last item is considered as the second factor in this study. Also, Fujisawa et al. (2010: 3) found that “to recognize the shape of the TWSI, it was necessary to sense the TWSI by the foot-sole”. As Nakamura et al. (2010:7) stated that “TWSIs more than 3.0 mm appeared to be still useful for visually impaired users”. They concluded “bar- and dot-shaped TWSIs lower than 5.0 mm (standard height) and dot-shaped TWSIs smaller than 12.0 mm (control) seem to be useful when they are installed rather flat floor or ground surfaces”. Therefore, it can be stated that the most important factor is composed of the relationship between individual characteristics (shoe width, stature and gender) and the contact amount and type (frequency of leaving residence and experience alone or with help) with TWSIs. Perceptual characteristics of the individuals as long white cane usage (0.855), time of sight loss (0.705) and visual efficiency type (0.661) determine the second factor. In a preliminary study (Tactile Surface Workshop II 2011), the second factor is composed of ease of change in direction (0.76), sense of domes (0.74) ease of transition from truncated domes to bars (0.69). In Evyapan and Demirkan’s (2000) study, it was also found that perceptual characteristics of the subjects were important in tactile discrimination and skills in manipulation of objects. In this study, the third factor is composed of ease of walking on tactile surfaces as ease of change in direction (0.801), ease of stay on proper course of walking (0.779) and transition from truncated domes to bars (0.626).

As a result of this study, it is concluded that in the design of TWSIs that comply with the international standards, the tactile surface can be effective as much as they are in accordance with the individual and perceptual characteristics of the users. Therefore, each nation has to determine the related dimensions from the range of given dimensions in the standard that comply with the anthropometric dimensions of the nation while considering both genders. The anthropometric dimensions that determine the shoe width and stature of the individual and the visual efficiency level should be taken substantially into consideration as well as the frequency of leaving the residence. Ease of walking on tactile surfaces that provide ease of change in direction, sense of domes and ease of transition from domes to bars should comply with the standards. The wide spread of use of TWSIs that are designed according to the individual and perceptual characteristics of Turkish people would help visually impaired people to feel safe in their built environments while recognising the different messages through their feet or from limited vision. Accordingly, a properly designed built environment that takes into account the physical dimensions, and perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities of all people, supports all human activities. Further studies should include the integration of all people for social activities in these environments.

50

REFERENCES ADAAG 1991, Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG), 1991. Available at: http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm ANSI 117.1-1980 (American National Standard Institute), American national standard: Specifications for making buildings and facilities accessible to and usable by physically handicapped people, ANSI A117.1, New York. ANSI A117.1 – 1986 (American National Standard Institute), American national standard for buildings facilities - Providing accessibility and usability for physically handicapped people, ANSI A117.1, New York.

AS/NZS 1428.4–2009 (Australian/New Zealand Standard), Design for access and mobility – Part 4.1: Means to assist the orientation of people with vision impairment - Tactile ground surface indicators.

NAKAMURA, T., NORIYOSHI, A., TAUCHI, M. 2010, Evaluation of the differentiability of newly developed lowprofile bar-and dot-shaped tactile walking surface indicators. Paper presented at The 12th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED), Hong Kong on 2-4 June, 2010.

BENTZEN, B.L., BARLOW, J.M. AND TABOR, L. 2000, Detectable warnings: Synthesis of U.S. and International practice. US Access Board. Washington, DC. DEMIRKAN, H. 2007, Housing for the Aging Population, European Review on Aging and Physical Activities, 4(1):33-38.

OLGUNTURK, N., DEMIRKAN, H. 2009, Ergonomics and Universal Design in Interior Architecture Education, METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture, 26(2):123138.

EVYAPAN, N.A.G.Z., DEMIRKAN, H. 2000, The 16 Cubes Game for Children who are Visually Impaired, Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 94(6):396399.

OVSTEDAL, LR., LID, IM., LINDLAND, T. 2005, How to evaluate the effectiveness of a tactile surface indicator system? International Congress Series, 1282:10511055.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2003, 2010: A Europe accessible for all. Available at: http://www.eca.lu/upload/egafin.pdf

TABACHNICK, BG., FIDELL, LS. 1996, Using Multivariate Statistics. 3rd ed. New York, HarperCollins.

FUJISAWA, S., YAMADA, N., ITO, S., SATO, K., MITANI, S., SUEDA, O. 2010, Identification of Tactile Walking Surface Indicators by white cane. In IEEE International Conference on Virtual Environments Human-Computer Interfaces and Measurement Systems (VECIMS), 6-8 Sept. 2010. ISO/DIS 23599: 2012, (International Standard). Assistive products for blind and vision impaired personsTactile walking surface indicators. ISO 3864-1, 2002, Graphical symbols — Safety colours and safety signs — Part 1: Design principles for safety signs and safety markings JIS, T 5291: 2001, (Japanese Industrial Standard). Dimensions and patterns of raised parts of tactile ground surface indicators for blind persons. KWOK, A. (2010). Provision of accessible ground facilities and training at HKIA. Paper presented at The 12th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED), Hong Kong on 2-4 June, 2010.

TACTILE SURFACES WORKSHOP II: Trends and Site Selection Report 2011, Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Family and Social Policies, Özürlü ve Yaşli Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü, September 12-13-14 2011, Istanbul. http://www.ozida.gov.tr/ulasilabilirlik/HissedilebilirYuzey Calistayi/cindex.htm

UNITED NATIONS 1993, Standard rules on the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. A/RES/48/96. 85th plenary meeting 20 December 1993. Available at: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r096.htm

Author(s): Halime Demirkan Bilkent University Faculty of Art. Design and Architecture Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, 06800 Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey. Email: [email protected]

MACE, R.L., HARDIE, G.J., PLAICE, J.P. 1991, 51

Halime Demirkan

Accessible environments: Toward universal design, eds. W. Preiser, J. Vischer and E. White, Design Interventions: Toward a More Human Architecture, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Effectiveness of Tactile Surface Indicators in ‘Design For All’ Context.

ANSI A117.1 – 1998 (American National Standard Institute), American national standard: Accessible and usable buildings and facilities, ICC/ANSI117.1, Falls Church, VA: International Code Council.

ELDERLY-FRIENDLY INCLUSIVE URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: LEARNING FROM ANKARA

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

Yasemin Afacan Abstract The aging population and their expectations have become a growing concern in Turkey as in other countries. This study aims to investigate interactions/relationships between the needs, demands and expectations of Turkish elderly and inclusive urban design principles. It tries to answer the research question: how the inclusive urban life could improve elderly life and contribute to achieve an active aging process. An exploratory study was conducted with a total of 100 randomly selected elderly between the ages 65-95 (45 female and 55 male) from the City Centre of Ankara. A survey instrument based on the ‘streets for life’ concept (Burton & Mitchell 2006) was developed to gather data. The participants were asked to identify how important inclusive urban design features were in understanding, using and navigating within an urban environment. The findings of the study suggest that an inclusive open environment allows elderly people to feel safer, and thus encourage more regular use of urban space. Overall the results highlight two important insights, first that accessibility is inevitable for increasing the chance of the aging population to participate in the mainstream of community life and second, plain and simple signage is necessary to achieve more liveable urban environments. The study concludes the most important physical requirements and social requirements for elderly people. Keywords: Inclusive Design, Aging Population, Accessibility, Independence, Elderly-Friendly Environment.

1 . In t r o d u c t i o n Aging population is increasing all over the world. According to OECD Factbook 2011-12: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics (2011), the ratio of population aged 65 and over to total population is highest in Japan, 23.1 per cent of Japanese population, while 20.6 per cent of Italian population and 20.3 per cent of the German population. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates suggest that the world total will be more than 1 billion aged 60 or over by the year 2025 (Marshall et al. 2004). Although the birth rate is higher than the ratio of aging population in Turkey, by 2025, 13 per cent of the Turkish population will be aged 60 and over and by 2050, 21 per cent, which is triple today’s aging population ratio. Thus, the aging population and their expectations have become a growing concern in Turkey as in other countries. In this respect, providing a physical space and a social environment for elderly daily living becomes significant in terms of a userfriendly human-environment interface. The quality of the built environment has been said to have a significant effect on the health, comfort, satisfaction and productivity of its users. This study considers old 52

age and accommodating elderly as social design problems, which cannot be solved by individuals themselves. Architectural solutions informed by ethical concerns and inclusive design approach can overcome these problems. Working closely with older users and being informed on their diverse needs and demands is crucial to enable by design (Coleman & Pullinger 1993). Reviewing the literature shows that there is much discussion and debate regarding elderly people’s needs, demands and expectations among assisted living providers, designers, researchers and policy- makers. Some insight into the implications of universal design practice for these groups can be listed as follows: new housing developments for ageing populations where they have easy access to services and public transportation; universally designed outdoor gardens and parks serving elderly and people with all types of impairments; the development of government policies and laws for sustainable social development; assistive technologies to support people with dementia, etc. (Afacan & Afacan 2011). There are also a number of concepts and practices that support how an elderlyfriendly environment could improve the sustainable urban experience across a broad range of commu-

WHO and Help the Aged use the age of 60 years as the start of aging process, where as UK Office of National Statistics and Age Concern refers older people as those aged 50 years and over (Burton & Mitchell 2006). In Turkey, old age is defined as the age of 65 years and over. However, using the term ‘old’ and/or ‘elderly’ could be sometimes discriminatory and cause misunderstandings that those people are regarded as frail (Laws 1994). Nevertheless, aging process has effects on people’s functional (strength, mobility, sensory) and mental abilities (dementia) so that they fail to experience urban environments efficiently as the younger population. Urban environments are the essential part of city life to maximise independence and the full participation of elderly people in all aspects of society. A well-designed outdoor space is vital to maintain the independence and self-respect of an older person. According to Handy et al. (2002) and Saelens et al. (2003) people are more active in accessible urban environments. Although the research of physical environment on older adults began in the 1960s (Hans-Werner & Weisman 2003), due to the increasing urbanization, changes in the construction technologies and rapid growth of cities, the user-friendly nature of streets is disappearing. Urban environments become more fragmented, which causes separation of people from each other and their ecological place. These changes in physical and social structure of streets lead to the lack of a universal platform for self-fulfilment and individual dignity. There is an essential need to identify physical and social environmental features based on the perspective of elderly people (Feldman & Oberlink 2003). According to Imrie (2000: 1643) “for many people, their inability to go places or restrictions on their mobility and movement is of paramount importance in their everyday lives”. For the elderly existing patterns of poorly designed urban environments, such as steps, narrow streets, uneven pavements, are critical concerns to let designers rethink the urgency of inclusive urban environments. As mentioned earlier, the physical configuration of the urban environment as an important source of social exclusion (Hall & Imrie 1999) generates a number of reasons to adopt inclusivity, which has benefits to everyone. The inclusivity in this study is defined based on ‘streets for life’ concept 53

Yasemin Afacan

2 . A g i n g a n d q u al i t y o f l i f e : T h e c h a l l e n ge o f i n c l u s i v e u r b a n e n v i r o n me n t s

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

nities. Lifetime homes, streets for life and lifetime neighbourhoods are the most common examples of the concepts underpinning inclusively designed urban environments (Burton & Mitchell 2006). These concepts are based on creating environments that stimulate and enhance quality of life, personal identity and human interactions throughout the lifespan (Hanson 2001). However, accommodating special populations’ needs and demands in Turkey is a highly difficult and challenging design task. In contrast to developed countries, in Turkey, old age is not yet regarded as a problem; however it is already becoming difficult to continue existing patterns. From the user perspective, in most of the cities in Turkey the physical configuration of streets and the social life are not universal and sustainable but rather are problematical for both disabled and non-disabled people. From the designer perspective, it is still not clear what a barrier-free architecture and urban design means in practice. Furthermore, real-world applications in Turkey on designing urban environments for elderly people are scarce compared to disabled people (Turel et al. 2007). Although Article 61 in the Constitution of Turkey and Municipality Law 5393 highlights right to social security and protection of life for older people, governance has not yet legislated to address the requirements of aging populations in an urban environment (Aging Platform Group Report 2010 Ankara). It is urgent to consider the implications of aging in the Turkish urban design context. In this respect, this study differs from other researches by being an initial effort to address elderly people’s point of view on inclusive urban environments that could impact industry as well as governance and public design. It aims to investigate interactions/relationships between the needs, demands and expectations of Turkish elderly and inclusive urban design principles. It concentrates on possible difficulties inherent within all urban contexts. It also offers design guidance and recommendations based on evidence-based research. It searches an answer to the following research question: “how the inclusive urban life could improve elderly life and contribute to achieve an active aging process?”

Yasemin Afacan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

that is developed by Burton & Mitchell (2006) through their ongoing research at the Wellbeing in Sustainable Environments research unit at Warwick University. This concept with the six key design principles – familiarity, legibility, distinctiveness, accessibility, comfort and safety – is a mechanism for achieving the goals of inclusive design at the neighbourhood scale and enabling outdoor environments to be as dementia-friendly as possible (Burton & Mitchell 2006). Familiarity is defined by the extent to which urban environments are easily recognisable and understandable by elderly people (Burton & Mitchell 2006). According to Imrie (2000), the loss of familiar street markers or additions of new ones cause elderly users to feel vulnerable in a built environment. Familiar urban environments not only help to reduce confusion, but also maintain elderly independence and influence their physical activity (Booth et al. 2000). Since elderly people also experience short term memory problems, ease of recognition in street layout, alternative routes, location of services, pedestrian crossings and signs are essential to make the urban environments inclusive. Legibility is closely related to help elderly people to understand where they are and in which way they need to go (Burton & Mitchell 2006). Provision of accurate and intuitively understandable directional guidance is important for legibility with a minimum confusion (Preiser & Smith 2010). Lynch (1960) defined also the qualities of a good urban design as legible focal points for orientation, edges and places of congregation. However, the attitudes of elderly people toward the way finding techniques are different than the others (Passini et al. 1998, 2000). Maps, directions, signs are difficult and complex to understand by an older person regardless their mental capacity, while few use landmarks and environmental features, such as a letterbox or a favourite tree (Burton & Mitchell 2006). Distinctiveness is similar to legibility in terms of giving a clear image of where to be, but it distinguishes by reflecting the local character and giving distinct identity by a variety of spaces- such as high-rise buildings, parks, historic structurescolour, material, street furniture, and uses- such as play areas, recreation grounds (Burton & Mitchell 2006). Elderly people are more likely to walk along streets with pavements, front gardens and shops rather than the streets surrounded by blind walls (et al. 2009). Thus, distinctive street characteristics and urban spaces full of activities attract elderly people, even with dementia, and encourage them to experience the urban environment. In terms of the active 54

aging process, a sense of a garden and/or interesting urban features to look at increases enjoyment while walking and gives a sense of belonging to the community (Micheal et al. 2006). Accessibility is defined as the extent to which the elderly people are enabled to visit, reach, use and access all the urban facilities regardless their ability (Burton & Mitchell 2006). According to Gabriel & Bowling (2004) one of the central dimensions of the quality in later life is offering access to facilities and services in a neighbourhood. ‘An accessible route of travel is the key unifying element that facilitates the safe and independent use of a site and its buildings by all people …connects site arrival points, i.e. parking, bus stops, etc., with all exterior and interior amenities’ (New Fair Multi-Family Housing, 1996, p. 13). Comfort is closely related to the ease of use of the urban environment, and the ability to visit places without physical or mental discomposure (Burton & Mitchell 2006). According to Imrie (2000), comfort in a built environment is associated with a calm and welcoming feeling. Michael et al. (2006) highlighted the importance of comfort in a built environment for active aging and elderly people’s decision to live in a particular neighbourhood. Finding ways to reduce the expenditure of effort and to minimize repetitive actions at all scales of the environment is essential (Story 2001). Close destinations, hierarchy of streets, places to stop and rest, public seating and toilets while walking are important for seniors (Afacan & Afacan 2011). Safety is referred to the extent to which elderly people use the urban environment without fear of falling, being attacked and run-over. This last criterion is the result of the previous five criteria. If an urban environment is familiar, legible, distinctive, accessible and comfortable, then it is obvious that the environment is safe and there is nothing to worry about being attacked or fear of falling. The inadequate pedestrian infrastructure can limit the participation of elderly people to urban life by making them feel unsafe and increasingly isolated (Michael et al. 2006), whereas welldesigned streets and public open spaces encourage walking and cycling, and have the power to make our environment safer (Turel et al. 2007). These six principles as proposed by Burton & Mitchell (2006) support sustainability and play a key role in the inclusive engagement of elderly people in socially productive activities within the urban life.

Yasemin Afacan Photo 1. Panoramic view taken from the P1 location by the author.

3 . M e t h o do l o g y 3 . 1 P a rt i c i p a n t s an d s t u d y a r e a A total of 100 randomly selected elderly between the ages 65-95 (45 female and 55 male) from the City Centre of Ankara participated in the survey. 58 % of the participants do not have any health problems, whereas 9% pointed out eye problems, such as low vision, cataract etc. 33% reported movement problems, such as walking, rheumatism etc. The case urban site is chosen from the most dense and popular urban area (Kizilay-Ulus region, 3km long, Figure 1) in Ankara City Centre, Turkey, which contains a well-developed infrastructure including different vehicular and pedestrian traffic patterns,

access points to public transport, pedestrian facilities, access to parks, prestigious buildings, such as embassies, plazas, diverse building and urban facilities. To provide a better context and make the analyses more readable, photographic descriptions of the Kizilay-Ulus district are shown below (Photograph 1, 2, 3, 4). The photographs were taken as panoramic views by the author, who chose critical locations that could show the different characters of the district. None of the participants are in need of any institutional care and have any mental disability. Each participant, who takes part in the structured interview process were also asked to sign a consent form to satisfy ethical procedures.

55

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

Figure 1. Aerial view of the study area taken from www.maps.google.com

Yasemin Afacan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

Photo 2. Panoramic view taken from the P2 location by the author.

Photo 3. Panoramic view taken from the P3 location by the author.

Photo 4. Panoramic view taken from the P4 location by the author.

3.2 Methodology A survey instrument with a comprehensive list of 46 items was developed to gather data (Appendix A). The survey instrument includes urban design features that contribute or can be components of a promising and inclusive urban space. It is based on a structured questionnaire format with close-ended questions. The questions in the survey instrument were grouped under six categories with reference to Burton & Mitchell’s (2006) streets for life principles 56

as explained above. During the survey, the users were asked to rate their importance level for each item on a scale of 1-5, (1 being the least important and 5 the most important) and to mark the appropriate boxes to identify how important is each of the following features in understanding, using and navigating within an urban environment. The data were collected during face-to-face surveys with all the participants in the street in a public seating area. At the beginning, a brief summary of the procedure and the aim of the study were explained. The items

Yasemin Afacan

that may not have been clear to participants were explained as a part of questionnaire. Further information was obtained through an unstructured interview, which helped to discuss the results of the questionnaire in a more comprehensive way. Further, to avoid any biases, participants were not allowed to listen to others while they were being surveyed. 3.3 Variables The results of the survey were explained concerning independent and dependent variables. Independent variables were tested against dependent variables. The means of access and distance of their living environment to the study area were considered as dependent variables in all of the categories. The independent variables are age, gender, education level and physical ability. Besides, the preferences of elderly (aim, frequency, time and independence, see Table 1) are also considered as independent variable that had impact on the user attitude toward an urban environment. 4 . R e s u l t s : C o rr e l at i o n s a m o n g e l d e r l y characteristics, their preferences and i n c l u s i v e u r b a n pr i n c i p l e s The ratings of the participants on 46 items were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 10.1. By means of the statistical analyses, frequency distributions, cross-tabula-

tions and chi-square test for independence were calculated. The alpha coefficient for the 46 item is 0.9271, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency. Analyses of mean scores for each survey item were calculated. The study considered the items with mean scores above 4.1 as the most important items for an inclusive urban design regardless their age, ability, gender and preference (Table 2). About half of the participants stated that they prefer familiar routes and clearly marked services and facilities, preferably at ground levels. More than half of the participants highlighted the importance of public toilets. Since they could not find a comfortable, accessible and clean toilet, they plan their routes around stores and cafes which have an inclusive toilet. Moreover, many participants were worried about being attacked and/or have fear of falling because of uneven level changes. Thus, the participants consistently emphasized the importance of wide, well-maintained and clean footways with clearly marked signs. Representative statements on 8 items illustrated in the Table 2 were identified through the unstructured interviews. Discussions on the first three items in the table showed that participants had strong views on the ease of use and design of simple route planning techniques just as highlighted by Burton & Mitchell (2006) under familiarity and legibility principles. Simple signs, clarity in maps, tactile and visual clues on sidewalks helped users to cope with the fear of getting lost and disoriented, a factor which typically leads elderly people to become housebound. The statements on the 57

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

Table 1. Preferences of elderly people.

Yasemin Afacan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

Table 2. Mean scores for the most important items.

remaining 5 items are also in line with Burton & Mitchell (2006) accessibility and comfort. Physical obstacles, such as level changes, and barriers make the urban environments inaccessible so that most of the elderly use local facilities within walking distances. Participants mentioned that getting close to the urban environment is important in terms of a positive sense of place attachment, independence, satisfaction and enjoyment. A majority of the participants stated in the interviews that they consistently look for a clean, accessible and safe public toilet in the city centre. 4.1 Towards what purpose do the e l d e r l y u s e t h e u r b a n e n v i r o n me n t ? Analyses of frequency tables for each preference were conducted. Regarding the purpose of use of the urban environment, 44 participants stated that they use the urban environment for necessary activities, such as health needs, banking and shopping. 26 participants identified recreational activities, such as walking, wandering and hanging around, as an inevitable aim for the active aging, whereas 30 participants used the urban space for socio-cultural activities, exhibitions, theatre and cinema. There is a statistically significant relationship between the pur58

pose of use of the urban environment and elderly physical ability (x²= 20,953, df=6, α=0,02, twotailed). The 9 participants with vision problems and all 14 participants with rheumatism (out of 33 participants with movement problems) prefer to use the urban environment for necessary activities. However, for the participants without any health problems the ratio of purpose responses with respect to the three activities is practically identical. Since this preference is closely related with adequate infrastructure, sense of navigation, attractiveness and comfort (Michael et al. 2006), to investigate the reasons for this relationship, the study analyzed the correlations of the participants’ importance level for the inclusive urban design principles and found that legibility, distinctiveness, accessibility and comfort play an essential role in this preference. Statistical relationships between the purpose and the following survey items were found as follows: “integration with a variety of practical features such as public seating” (α=0,02); “availability of signs at important decision points” (α=0,01); “entrance accessibility” (α=0,00); “well-defined and well-connected surrounding spaces” (α=0,01). The key issue is that places to stop and rest; close destinations; presence of way finding features

4 . 2 H o w o f t e n d o e l d e rl y p r e f er t h e urban environment? The frequency results indicated that the urban environment is not always used with a consistent pattern. 30 participants use the urban environment once a day, 29 participants more than once a week and 29 participants once a month with the remaining sample using the urban environment once a week. The apparent reason for this pattern is that as the age increases, the usage of the built environment loses its regularity because of physical barriers and safety problems. Moreover, most of the participants reported that they are more willing to stay at home. In the study, all the participants who are above 85 years (27%) prefer to use the urban environment once a month. The study also analyzed the correlations between the frequency and the participants’ importance level for the inclusive urban design principles. It found statistical relationships between the frequency and the following items: “ease of orientation in terms of urban form and street layout” (α=0,01); “provision of essential information for people who are unfamiliar with a place” (α=0,03); “readable graphics in signs” (α=0,00); “appropriate day and night lighting to encourage usage” (α=0,00); “availability of public seating” (α=0,00); “provision of public toilets” (α=0,00) and “orientation accessibility” (α=0,00). In this context, almost all of the participants agreed that they would use the urban spaces more regularly if they could identify easily where they are and where to go. Accessibility and comfort in the urban environment are necessary to avoid fear, becoming disoriented and confused. Moreover, another criterion that affects the usage frequency is the toilet provision. Most of the respondents avoid going places without toilet facilities altogether. 4.3 Being independent or accompanied while using the urban environment? Regarding the independence, most of the participants prefer to use the urban environment alone

5 . Di sc u s s i o n The findings of the study suggest that an inclusive open environment allows elderly people to feel safer, and consequently could encourage more regular use of the urban space. Overall the results highlight two important insights. The first is that accessibility is necessary for increasing the participation of the aging population in mainstream community life. The second, quite simply, is that signage is necessary to achieve more liveable urban environments. Accessible urban environments must provide more than physical access, and look towards social benefits and opportunities, such as health, social life, environment and economy in 59

Yasemin Afacan

(40%) or with a relative (40%) rather than with a friend (10%) or with their care worker. The study found only two correlation data between independence preference and inclusive urban design principles. There is a statistically significant relationship between the independence and the following survey items: “entrance accessibility” (α=0,00) and “availability of security cameras” (α=0,00). Safety emerged as a critical concern that has implications on independence and self-esteem of aging population. The participants highlighted positive benefits of open spaces with natural surveillance as well, i.e. busy road connections, short distances and clean and friendly kept areas with adequate lighting. In terms of the time period, the results showed that more than half of the participants (66%) prefer using the urban space between 12.00-16.00, 19 % between 08.00-12.00 and 15 % between 16.00-21.00. As the participants mentioned during the interviews, the main reason for this preference is that elderly feel safer during the peak hours of the day, when they could find more people to assist them, have more public transport choices without excessive waiting and find more elderly-friendly activities, such as painting, computer courses, hand-crafting services and social services by the municipality. According to analyses of the correlations between the time and the participants’ importance level for the inclusive urban design principles, there is no statistically significant relationship between time preference and any of the survey items. It should be noted there would be no doubt that an inclusive urban environment, which is safe from traffic and crime, easy and pleasant to walk around, accessible to use, would allow all elderly people to participate in every facility and service during 24 hours of a day.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

and accessible local facilities while participating in urban life are important inclusive urban features, and could have substantial impact on the daily activity pattern of an aging population. The study also investigated the relationship between the gender, education and the purpose of use of the urban environment and found no statistically significant relationship between them.

Yasemin Afacan open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

their inclusivity. An improved environment that is well-designed, planned and managed help the elderly to feel free, independent and more in control. A readable and easy recognizable street layout is important for elderly people to reduce confusion and maintain independence. In that sense, signage systems have critical implications in experiencing urban life. Reliable and clearly presented information prevent elderly from losing their way so that they are encouraged to use urban space and become less fearful of getting lost while using it. In this context, elderly-friendly inclusive urban environments can lead to the greater inclusion of many groups often neglected in the urban development process. They can provide the possibility of responding to the requirements of sustainable development and the needs of communities from childhood throughout the aging process. Otherwise, inaccessible spaces, unusable facilities with barriers and declining cities prevent the physical and social participation of elderly in the communities and lead them to being marginalized and lonely. In this respect, this article’s contribution to scientific knowledge is to open ways for adopting inclusive urban design and planning principles and import creative ideas for supporting accessible urban development and inclusive design’s responsiveness to the current ever-changing global environment.

6. Conc lusion Additional findings can be concluded from this study. Public toilets and public seating need to be considered to create a good quality street environment. Table 3 summarizes all the findings under a checklist to establish an elderly-friendly inclusive urban environment model, to adapt existing urban environments or create new ones. This checklist is composed of the most important physical requirements and social requirements for elderly people that are discussed within the study. It can provide guidance to a number of guidelines and future research issues to increase designers, architects, planners and policy makers’ awareness and positive attitude towards inclusive urban environments. However, it should be noted that there are limitations of the study. Since the sample size is small and the study area is limited, it is not possible to generalize the results. Further research should include more participants from different urban areas. A comparative cultural study could also be considered as a future goal of the author to focus in more detail on the importance of inclusive urban environments and elderly needs in terms of social, health, environmental and economic benefits and opportunities that are provided by urban spaces. In summary, it is apparent that additional emphasis on inclusive urban design is required. An elderly-friendly inclusive urban environment model, illustrated in Table 3, embodied with inclusivity can

Table 3. Checklist for an elderly-friendly inclusive urban environment model.

60

AFACAN, Y and AFACAN, S O. 2011, Rethinking social inclusivity: Design strategies for universally designed sustainable cities, P I Civil Eng - Urban Design and Planning, 164, 93–107.

Yasemin Afacan

7. References

Aging Platform Group Report, Aging Workshop I, March 19, 2010 Ankara, Turkey. BOOTH, M L, OWEN N, BAUMAN A, CLAVISI O and LESLIE, E. 2000, Social-cognitive and perceived environment influences associated with physical activity in older Australians, Preventive Medicine 31, 15–22. BORST, H C, VRIES S I, GRAHAM, J M A, VAN DONGEN J E F, BAKKER I and MIEDEMA H M E. 2009, Influence of environmental street characteristics on walking route choice of elderly people, Journal of Environmental Psychology 29, 477–484. BURTON E and MITCHELL L. 2006. Inclusive Urban Design: Streets for Life, Oxford, Elsevier. COLEMAN R, PULLINGER D J. 1993, Designing for Our Future Selves, Applied Ergonomics 24, 3. FELDMAN, P H, OBERLINK, M R. 2003, Developing community indicators to promote the health and wellbeing of older people, Family and Community Health 26, 268–274. GABRIEL, Z. and BOWLING, A. 2004, Quality of life from the perspectives of older people, Aging and Society 24, 675–691. HANDY, S L, BOARNET, M G, EWING, R and KILLINGSWORTH, R E. 2002, How the built environment affects physical activity: views from urban planning, American Journal of Preventive Medicine 23, 64–73. HANSON J. 2001, From ‘special needs’ to ‘lifestyle choices’: Articulating the demand for ‘third age’ housing, In Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society. Peace SM and Holland C (eds.). Bristol, Policy Press, 29–55. HANS-WERNER, W and WEISMAN, G D. 2003, Environmental gerontology at the beginning of the new millennium: Reflections on its historical, empirical, and theoretical development, The Gerontologist 43, 616–627.

61

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

be treated as a design response to elderly-friendly environments through which designers, planners, policy makers and government can eliminate social exclusion, address the needs of the whole population, reduce timescales and produce better designs and increase user satisfaction. This model takes a bottom-up approach, involving municipalities to respond to the needs of the aging population, rather than the top-down. Moreover in reality, the true costs of poorly conceived, unusable and inequitable designs emerge later on in the life cycle and/or occupation phase of the built environment, and have the potential to exclude people, cause irreparable damage and unsustainable environments. Post-occupancy evaluations can be too late to remedy the mistakes related to inclusive design and social inclusion. To avoid a diffused link between people and cities, there is a need to embark on design strategies, checklists and methods for revitalisation, requalification and renovation of existing built environments. Therefore, achieving a sustainable performance within cities is highly correlated with implementing an appropriate design strategy along an overall consideration of a range of environmental design concerns, such as design checklists, ergonomics guidelines, accessibility standards, building codes and urban planning specifications. In this context, inclusivity within urbanism can lead to the greater inclusion of many groups often neglected in the sustainable development process.

Yasemin Afacan

IMRIE, R. 2000. Disability and discourses of mobility and movement, Environment and Planning A, 32, 1641–1656.

STORY, M F. 2001, Principles of Universal Design, In F E W Preiser and E Ostroff, eds., Universal Design Handbook. New York, McGraw-Hill, 10.1–10.11.

HALL, P. and IMRIE, R. 1999. Architectural practices and disabling design in the built environment, Environment and Planning B, 26, 409–425.

TUREL, H. S., YIGIT M. E. and ALTUG I. 2007, Evaluation of elderly people’s requirements in public open spaces: A case study in Bornova District (Izmir, Turkey), Building and Environment 42, 2035–2045.

LAWS, G. 1994, Aging, contested meaning, and the built environment, Environment and Planning A, 26, 1787–1802.

open house international Vol.38 No.1, March 2013 Elderly-friendly Inclusive Urban Environments: Learning from Ankara

LYNCH, K. 1960, The Image of The City, Cambridge, MIT Press. MARSHALL R, CASE K, PORTER J M, SIMS R, GYI D E. 2004, Using HADRIAN for Eliciting Virtual User Feedback in ‘Design for All’. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B: Engineering Manufacture 218, 1203–1210. MICHAEL, Y L., GREEN, M K and FARQUHAR, S A. 2006, Neighborhood design and active aging. Health and Place 12, 734–740. New Fair Multi-Family Housing. 1996, A Design Primer to Assist in Understanding the Accessibility Guidelines of the Fair Housing Act. North Carolina, North Carolina State University Press. OECD Factbook 2011-12: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. 2011, DOI: 10.1787/factbook2011-en. PASSINI, R, RAINVILLE, C, MARCHAND, N and JOANNETTE, Y. 1998, Wayfinding and dementia: some research findings and a new look at design, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 15, 133–151. PASSINI, R, PIGOT, H, RAINVILLE C and TETREAULT, M H. 2000, Wayfinding in a nursing home for advanced dementia of the Alzheimer type, Environment and Behavior 32, 684–710. PREISER, W F E and SMITH, K S. 2010, Universal design at the urban scale, In Universal Design Handbook (Second Edition) W.F.E. Preiser and K.S. Smith (Eds.) New York, McGraw-Hill, 20.1–20.11. SAELENS, B E, SALLIS, J F, FRANK, L D. 2003, Environmental correlates of walking and cycling: Findings from the transportation, urban design, and planning literatures, Annals of Behavioural Medicine 25, 80–91. 62

Author(s): Assist. Prof. Dr Yasemin Afacan Department of Interior Architecture & Environmental Design, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture Bilkent University, TR-06800 Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey Email: [email protected]

Social Rental Housing in South africa is to some extent based on Dutch precedents, thus the films in part, become an investigation into the possibility of government investment in social housing by developing “base buildings”, allowing for multi-skilled teams to provide the “infill” – possibly achieving long-term sustainability of the housing stock, better return on investment with regards to government subsidies and allowing for more involvement of users in the decision-making process. this alternative design, delivery and procurement approach would allow for adaptation of rental housing to achieve income generation activities as well as different family configurations and alternative lifestyles. the movies therefore intend to start a conversation in the application of the concepts of Open building in the South african housing context.

SuStainable Humane(e) SettlementS: tHe uRban CHallenGe two documentary films were made in South africa and in the netherlands and aim to portray the state of housing and suggest approaches and challenges in achieving Sustainable Human(e) settlements in South africa. the central premise of the films is to explore the unique approaches being taken towards a transformation of housing into sustainable human settlements. the films bring together architects, government officials, urban planners, engineers, academics and more importantly ordinary people to grapple in an honest way about the human settlements challenges facing us today. the films present the contrasts between the two contexts and reveal the possibilities for both countries to deal with the global question of creating sustainable human(e) settlements. the films look toward the netherlands, strong link we see with the netherlands lessons in social housing, unique finance an approach to the design of medium mixed developments.

due to the in terms of models and density and

executive Producer: amira Osman Creative producers/directors: nduka mntambo (uJ) + beate lendt (x!mage) Production: uJ, FaDa, Johannesburg and x!mage, amsterdam Directing, camera, editing: nduka mntambo + beate lendt + FaDa, uJ students DVD 2 x 25 minutes, language: english/Dutch, subtitles: english Price per DVD: 19,95 euro/200 ZaR (incl.shipping) Orders must include name, postage address and contact details of the person requesting. DVD and invoice will be posted on receipt of payment confirmation. university of Johannesburg amira Osman, [email protected] absa bank account: 284 014 5770, branch Code: 632005, Swift Code abSaZaJJ, Reference: 05.10.090990. x!mage, amsterdam beate lendt, [email protected] Ximage, triodos 198564465, iban/SePa number: nl38 tRiO 0198 5644 65, biC number: tRiOnl2u or order online, payment with paypal: www.ximage.nl, www.ximage.nl/shop 63

open house international Vol.38 no.1, march 2013 built environments for Special Populations.........

in the netherlands, the focus is on presenting and commenting on past and recent projects as relevant case studies to extract the positive qualities as well as the difficulties dealt with during the realization of the projects.

book Review.

Book Review book title: Climate CHanGe etHiCS – navigating the Perfect moral Storm author’s name: Donald a. brown Publisher’s name: earthscan from Routledge Reviewer’s name: Yonca Hürol, eastern mediterranean university. Cyprus. iSbn number: iSbn13: 978-0-415-62571-5 Dimensions of the book: 15 x 23 cms Hard or Soft Cover: Soft number of Pages: 271 Order address: www.earthscan.co.uk (and for price) number of illustrations: 10 charts and tables. KeY WORDS: Climate change, ethics, policy making

open house international Vol.38 no.1, march 2013 built environments for Special Populations.........

Climate change is a subject with which many professions are involved. Donald a. brown, the author of this book called “Climate Change ethics – navigating the Perfect moral Storm,” is an environmental lawyer who also worked on climate change as Program manager for un Organizations in the uS ePa Office of international environmental Policy. brown says that climate change is the greatest environmental and social threat facing the human community. the objective of his book is to examine priority ethical issues in relation to climate change and to make recommendations on making ethical considerations influence policy formation. according to brown, climate change must be understood as a moral problem, because many policy issues which need resolution to achieve a global solution require looking to ethical principles for their solution. the book achieves its objective by introducing thirty-five years of climate change policy debate, by discussing all ethical issues in relation to climate change (including cost arguments, scientific uncertainty arguments, national emissions targets, adaptation costs, obligations of subnational governments, organizations, businesses and individuals and independent responsibility to act) and by showing the crucial role of ethics in climate change policy making. “...For climate change is a problem that, if not controlled, may cause the death of tens or hundreds of thousands of helpless victims caused by intense storms and heat waves; the death or sickness of millions that may suffer dengue fewer or malaria; the destruction of some nations` ability to grow food or provide drinking water; the devastation of forests and personal property; and the acceleration of elimination of countless species of plants and animals that are already stressed by other human activities...” (p.126)

64

“...one cannot say, of course, that human-induced climate change is the sole cause of those events, but rather that climate change makes these events more probable, and, that statistically extreme weather events are increasing in frequency...” (p.217) the book also shows that there is an ethically flawed and ideological disinformation campaign. according to brown, climate change ethics should be introduced to people and a worldwide social action should be created in order to force formation of a powerful policy against climate change. the book is useful for everybody who wishes to know more about climate change, its history and the political truths about it. it collects a large amount of knowledge and information with the help of an understandable and clear language. the book has a large reference list and an index.

book Review.

the urban international Press iSbn: 1- 872811 - 11 - 6 Soft Copy, 20cms x 22cms, 136 pages. Price: 40 uSD or 25 GbP Order address: [email protected] bOOK ReVieW by Dr. Jia beisi, Department of architecture, the university of Hong Kong. although experimental buildings have been built around the world, the difficulties of implementation on a larger scale prevail. Only a few efforts have been made to organize the knowledge and to formulate the implementation strategies for the builders and designers. the research on flexible buildings address the technical components, but the possibility of integration with the current housing market is overlooked. thus, this book is a significant contribution in the effort to fill the gap “between theories pertaining to flexibility and the reality of housing market” not only for north america, as the author explained, but also for the rest of the world. the publication of the book is a significant addition to the literature on flexible housing. the objectives of the book are premised on the understanding that flexibility has not been generally accepted in north america because of the problems of implementation. it intends to develop a project based decision-making model to assist designers and builders in determining the relevant level of flexibility which is best fit to their particular projects. the book is informative and serves as a conceptual instrument for the housing decision makers, including governmental housing organizations, private housing developers and builders, designers, and other promoters who want to design flexibility projects. it is useful for programmers, housing researchers, and students of architecture and building management. it can provide inspiration to residents and the general public who are interested in new living styles as well as in benefits from monetary savings and better living standards during their residency. Selected keywords: Flexibility, implementation, strategies, economics, alternatives. 65

open house international Vol.38 no.1, march 2013 built environments for Special Populations.........

DeCiSiOn maKinG FOR FleXibilitY in HOuSinG by avi Friedman

open house international Vol.38 no.1, march 2013 built environments for Special Populations.........

66

book Review.