Jasmien Herssens

Evaluating a Proposed Design for All (DfA) Manual for Architecture

This paper outlines the evaluation of a print-based Design for All (DfA) manual. The purpose was to understand if and how a DfA manual can be used as a tool to inspire students (future architects) in designing an inclusive project to transform theory into practice. The DfA manual has been used and tested during a workshop that took place at the UDweek 2016 in Hasselt, Belgium. Our results show that the manual was favorably received, particularly in the areas of the manual’s visual presentation. Conversely, short guidelines, as mean to transfer knowledge, was perceived as too prescriptive. Furthermore, more information to generate insights on users’ needs are required and the static format of the manual can’t satisfy the different ways students prefer to access information. The research provides interesting criteria on how to create a more relevant and useable DfA manual; however, further studies are required to elaborate upon these.

Spatialising differently through ability and techné

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on multisensorial and multimodal processes by considering spatial design differently through three case studies in Canada and Belgium that involved persons with visual impairments. Our research provokes alternative ways of ‘seeing’ and ‘being’ in the world and we assert that the normative ways that designers think, act, and design for/with people who have disabilities can be shifted when considering ableism and techné together. Our studies and methods differ from other design processes and methods, in that we situate design within an understanding of ableism and techné, where we encourage designers to reflect upon their ability biases in order to break assumptions about the abilities and disabilities of users and/or codesigners. Through exploring, observing and creating, nuanced examinations into ability and techné are revealed that support an intimate bond and an empathic response towards shaping the designers’ understanding of participants embodied and practical knowledge. Our case study research expands the ways of knowing and doing in codesign through ableism and techné with people who are visually impaired, to create inspiring and meaningful designs through multisensorial processes that are inclusive of ‘seeing’ in order to spatialise differently.

“Design for All” Manual: From Users’ Needs to Inclusive Design Strategies

This research was supported by Politecnico di Milano and Hasselt University. The authors are grateful to Hasselt University, which provided the opportunity for conducting part of the research with the Belgian scientific community.

Comfort in the Indoor Environment: A Theoretical Framework Linking Energy Efficiency and Universal Design

Energy Efficiency (EE) and Universal Design (UD) are topics high on governmental policy and research agendas which have been considered separately both in research and practice. This research hypothesizes that comfort can be a conceptual link that can represent both EE and UD features. In order to understand the broader meaning of comfort at home from the perspective of inhabitants in the context of home renovations, and to test our hypothesis, we conducted 3 qualitative studies with different user groups. The results confirm that users associate with comfort all aspects related to EE as well as with most aspects in UD. In addition, results indicate that EE can be an integral part of UD if both are considered from a comfort point of view. These are presented in a theoretical framework for comfort that can be used to further study a potential integration of the EE and UD fields.

User Knowledge Creation in Universal Design Processes

Besides the need for designers to build a strong body of user knowledge within the domain of Universal Design (UD), linking knowledge about user needs and design practice is fundamental for increasing its uptake. Designers often experience difficulties when transferring user needs into inclusive design solutions. The tacit nature of user needs considerably complicates this transfer. Therefore, this paper examines how designers may create and apply knowledge on UD. Concepts from Knowledge Management are used to shed new light on designers’ knowledge creation process about user needs. By relating UD processes to Nonaka’s SECI model, an analytic framework is proposed in which four modes of developing knowledge enable us to analyse the continuous dialogue between tacit and explicit knowledge from user to designer. As such, this paper explores to which extent the SECI model offers interesting insights into designers’ knowledge creation process on user needs.