Virtual Environments for Access Design: Bringing together multidisciplinary teaching and learning for real world outcomes

Developing digital design skills appropriate for analysing and accommodating issues of design accessibility is critical to better: housing; interior architecture; landscape architecture; industrial design and urban planning. This is a critical response to greater human rights expectations and a key government response to population ageing. The area of inclusive or universal design is a response to global design education initiatives including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which stipulates the implementation of programs of action to make physical social and virtual environments more equitable and accessible. In response to these imperatives, an innovative 6 unit credit summer course was designed and developed as a multidisciplinary elective and run for the first time in January 2009 as part of a research project to investigate the use of an open access home modelling application known as MyVirtualHome. From a course learning perspective, students engaged with established digital modelling applications within cutting edge virtual technologies and cultures. Parametric design was used in conjunction with 3D modelling to create customisable components that could be used by naive users within a virtual world to test accessibility solutions. As well as learning technical skills, students’ learning addressed attitudinal barriers. The evaluation method used for this project is action-based and draws on a range of evidence including student and tutor learning outcomes, as captured via the learning wiki developed especially for the course and the student satisfaction scores. The paper will discuss outcomes drawing from the Virtual Accessible Design wiki http://vead-2009.wetpaint.com/ which students used as the collaborative vehicle to communicate with each other and their tutors. Finally, the authors will reflect on the future potential of other inclusive design collaborations that enhance both teaching and learning outcomes across design disciplines as well as provide real-world outcomes and scholarship in both learning and enabling environments research. WHY TEACH UNIVERSAL DESIGN? A design education paradigm shift is occurring in Europe and the United States as a result of rapid population ageing. The traditional approach to teaching accessible design is changing as designing for the full range of users and understanding the concept of human difference underpins equity and social sustainability. Universal design as a tool for creating greater equity has been around nearly 20 years (Welch & Jones, 2001). However the dream of universal design education being embedded in the core curricula for all design professions is yet to be fully realized in most countries. The slowness to implement or to integrate universal design education into professional built environment curricula is partly because disability access is still seen as a specialised subdiscipline, design for them, not us (Tahkokallio, & Koivusilta, 2004). The built environment, and housing in particular, has a powerful impact on health, mobility, independence, autonomy and wellbeing for older persons and those with disabilities (Krieger & Higgins, 2002; Lowe, 2002; Thomson, Petticrew, & Morrison, 2002). Unfortunately, residential housing generally assumes average adult dimensions and reach ranges as a design baseline based on healthy and fit adults (Imrie 1996). As a consequence, inaccessibility in the form of stairs, doors, corridors, bathroom, etc., makes remaining in the community difficult if not impossible (Stark 2001). Achieving the independence and autonomy required often results in substantial and costly retrofitting which because it was not a part of the original design might not be aesthetically unappealing, further stigmatising the occupants. Also, traditional housing design outcomes do not consider disability as part of a lifecourse so are likely to require renovation and modification in order to adapt to the needs of its human occupants over its lifespan. On the other hand, including features, such as level entry, wider corridors and walls that can support handrails facilitates independence in daily living. Further, universally designed housing can significantly increase the number of occupants who can use a home with minimal home modification cost.