Abstract
Environmental and anatomic factors determine the limits of an individual's participation in daily activities. Design decisions determine the inclusivity of the built environment. Within this respect, disability studies take place in the architecture curriculum. This study investigates the disability and design relation within the context of architectural education. It seeks to answer how the experiencing method affects the approach of architecture students to the disability concept. For this purpose, the experiences and activities of undergraduate students of the "Disability in Design" elective course in the Department of Architecture at Duzce University have been analysed and evaluated. Within the scope of the study, enrolled students were asked to form 3–5 membered groups, choose a disability type, and experience the campus according to the determined disability. Data sources of this study are video recordings, empathy maps, student groups' reports, and observation results. The students' work was analysed and discussed to identify the effects of experiencing on disability awareness. The participating students of this study showed that through experiencing, they could relate the designed environment to the physical, emotional, and social aspects of disability. This study reveals that the experiencing method can be a powerful tool to help students comprehend the influential role of design decisions in the participation of different user groups in daily life.
Highlights
Introduction "Will you still introduce mandatory standards and measurements that we need to follow in our professional practice?"This was the question reflecting students' expectations, hesitation, and disappointment regarding course content when the researcher was explaining the primary learning outcomes of the "Disability in Design" course as being able to put on disabled people's shoes and comprehend their interaction with the built environment within a broader perspective.In today's world, within the design context, related legislation and mandatory standards protect the rights of disabled people and make architects and designers respond by considering different disabilities
The only positive response about the experience reflecting "joy" is from a participant, who experimented the campus with a wheelchair (G1), and she reflected the "joy" of taping the last scenes of the experience as follows:
5 Discussion and conclusion This study attempts to understand the potential of experiential learning for developing the disability awareness of architecture students
Summary
Introduction "Will you still introduce mandatory standards and measurements that we need to follow in our professional practice?"This was the question reflecting students' expectations, hesitation, and disappointment regarding course content when the researcher was explaining the primary learning outcomes of the "Disability in Design" course as being able to put on disabled people's shoes and comprehend their interaction with the built environment within a broader perspective.In today's world, within the design context, related legislation and mandatory standards protect the rights of disabled people and make architects and designers respond by considering different disabilities. Will you still introduce mandatory standards and measurements that we need to follow in our professional practice?". This was the question reflecting students' expectations, hesitation, and disappointment regarding course content when the researcher was explaining the primary learning outcomes of the "Disability in Design" course as being able to put on disabled people's shoes and comprehend their interaction with the built environment within a broader perspective. Depending on the close relationship between design and disability, disability-related courses have been included in the design-related disciplines In these courses, the concept of disability is studied with different approaches under the name of universal design, inclusive design, design for all, barrier-free design, among others and examined from a design perspective. The inclusivity of the design solution is essential for all disability-related design approaches
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