Abstract
The conventional belief of universal design objective is to benefits for few people with high cost of investment. It is, therefore, considered as unprofitable project, although Thai government has well developed laws according to the concept. A university is an organization which is affected by this concept, because it should be place where welcoming people of differences and opening opportunities for all to access education with equality. However, it is not easy for a private university to invest in building or modifying universal design environment due to surplus cost of implementation. The objectives of this research are to: 1) study factors in universal design implementation; and 2) analyze importance level of executives in deciding to invest in universal design implementation or modification. The research procedure and qualitative data collection was conducted with 59 informants by face-to-face semi-structured interview. The informants of this research comprised 56 physical users, and 3 executives and building managers. The research results show that factors affecting decision on environmental modification based on universal design principles in private universities are: 1) social structure, 2) understanding and recognition of human values; and 3) business image promotion. However, probable factors not facilitating universal design implementation in universities were: 1) investment budget, 2) architectural Aesthetic, and 3) utilization. Additionally, background of the interviewees is one of reinforcing factors for decision on universal design investment.
Highlights
Universal design concept was firstly implemented in Thailand in public building such as hospital and public health centers, and expanded to other public places such as educational institutions and government complex (Sawangjaroen, 2012)
This study indicates that decision on universal design implementation may be argued in terms of economic values
Factors affecting decisions to modify environment according to universal design principles in the private university are: 1) Social structure aspect
Summary
Universal design concept was firstly implemented in Thailand in public building such as hospital and public health centers, and expanded to other public places such as educational institutions and government complex (Sawangjaroen, 2012). Because the government places importance to quality of life of all people in society, buildings and environments accessible for all must be considered. This is consistent with Sahachaisaeree (2011), that “when the environment does not facilitate participation in social activities of individuals with personal impairment, the state of handicap is impliedly discriminated by unfriendly environment.”. Universal design implementations in public buildings, both newly constructed and modified, have been found in low rate. It is probably because of high cost in maintenance or construction, as well as perception of decision-making authorities on surplus cost. Educational institutions, for example, are places which play important roles in human capital development, leading to country development. There are little numbers of educational institutions’ facilities ass.ccsenet.org
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