Developing Students’ Awareness of Universal Design

Abstract

Issue

Interior designers require an understanding of universal design as a way of thinking rather than a code check for accessibility. Creating this awareness may be most effective at the introductory level with beginning design students.

Goal

The goal was to broaden inferior design students’ awareness of their daily environments and the range of abilities of all people by introducing concepts of universal design as basic, core information in foundation courses.

Application

Repeatedly altering students’ abilities and using clients with particular needs promoted an understanding of universal design through experiential learning, a form of learning that promotes self–reliant, capable students.

Description

Introducing concepts of universal design into existing basic design projects fostered students’ awareness of the range of human abilities within a framework of basic design without increasing teaching workloads. In an open–ended questionnaire, students described their understanding of universal design and identified projects that were most effective in the development of a sense of universal design.

Conclusion

Students’ projects and results of the questionnaires indicated sensitivity to the range of human abilities and knowledge of accessibility in daily environments. Projects that were most effective in developing a sense of universal design involved practice and experience.