This paper describes a participatory workshop as part of a larger process to design an inclusive museum space. The workshop covers a number of sessions that go from mutual introductions, over idea generation, to synthesis of an architectural concept. We discuss the participants' experience of the process that is set up to allow for a balanced exchange between architects and user/experts living with an impairment. We also discuss the outcome of the process in terms of its expression of inclusive museum architecture. 1
Well-considered building codes turn out to be insufficient to ensure inclusive building design, suggesting a need for change in how building accessibility is addressed in architectural design practice. This article presents Rent-a-Spatialist, an attempt at socially innovating architectural design practice based on the skills of disabled people. Due to their particular interaction with the built environment, disabled people are able to appreciate spatial qualities architects may not be attuned to, which would contribute to a more inclusive built environment.Because this ability is rarely used in architectural design practice, and disabled people have a vulnerable position on the job market, we explored the potential of mobilising disability experience as a consultancy service to inform architectural design practice, which connects improving material conditions with improving social relations. To this end we probed the interest in such a service by interviewing 34 built environment professionals involved in building design and construction or exploitation in Belgium or the Netherlands. In addition, seven disabled people and 12 HR experts specialised in workforce diversity were interviewed about the potential of the envisaged service. Findings suggest that the service could strengthen disabled people's position on the job market by enabling them to gain work experience. However, efforts are needed to convince built environment professionals of its added value, and to clarify issues related to disabled people's employee status.
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.
Critics point towards an excessive visual emphasis in (western) architecture bringing about a weakened sense of belonging, and a disconnection from places and from other people. Architects' visual way of knowing and working is further criticized for contributing to an alienating "architecture of the eye." This article aims to challenge this critique by offering a more nuanced understanding of vision and its connecting potential. To this end, it engages with how a d/Deaf architect, George Balsley, uses and attaches meaning to vision, partially prompted by the highly visual and spatial dynamics inherent to sign language. It relies on several interviews, observations, and a guided tour through a building he helped designing, the Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC) in Washington DC. The article looks specifically into the building's vision-centered features in relation to George's d/Deaf ways of being. His way of seeing is reflected in distinct characteristics of the SLCC that sustain (sign) language, mediate interpersonal communication, and facilitate connection to and understanding of spacesfeatures that are relevant for but also beyond the d/Deaf community. The architecture that issues from George's d/Deaf ways of seeing thus challenges the critique that vision-centered architecture by definition disconnects.
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