Creating Inclusive Spaces with Universal Design and ADA Principles

Welcome to Lesson 5, Introduction to Interior Design. Today we'll be discussing universal design and ADA, and not to worry, I will explain exactly what these are and their definitions. We'll talk about cultural sensitive design as well, and I'm excited to introduce your final project, which is Project 4, where you'll be designing a artist gallery or lounge that we've briefly discussed in the previous lessons.

So let's dive right into it. Universal design. What is universal design? Universal design is the creation of space suitable for all people, any age, any size, or any ability or disability.

It means that anyone can use the space equally. It's also interior design spaces that are usable to the greatest extent possible. Universal design can be achieved through a variety of different strategies, and I'm going to share some visual examples that will help you understand this, but let's talk about some of the concepts that interior designers use on a regular basis to incorporate universal design.

First is equitable use. This means that the design is practical and useful to individuals with varied abilities, regardless of what their abilities are. Flexibility and use.

The design caters to a diverse array of personnel, preferences, and capabilities. Simple and intuitive. It means the design is functionally straightforward, making it accessible to users of all experience levels.

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This is key. Any knowledge base and any language proficiencies. Perceptible information.

Now this is the creation of spaces that are comprehensible and usable for individuals regardless of their sensory capabilities or the environmental conditions. So this may include engaging multiple senses such as sight or sound or touch, along with very clear and consistent signals to convey essential information. If you've ever been in a modern traffic light at a crosswalk, you'll notice that there's both sound and sight now, so that there's a signal.

So regardless of what your ability is, you can tell when it's time to cross the street. And we have strategies that we use in interior design to address these as well. Tolerance for error.

This means that the design reduces risks that have any kind of negative impact that could cause an accident, right? Or any kind of unintentional actions, right? So it has a low tolerance for error. Low physical effort. The design can be utilized effectively, comfortably, and with minimum fatigue.

This is important with low physical effort is that, you know, there may be an individual in a wheelchair and we could possibly assume it's possible they may have arthritis. We need to design the door handle so it's easy for this individual to open the door. So low physical effort is also very important when it comes to designing it with universal design and ADA.

And the last one is approach size and the approach size and space. So this means that it's the suitable, they're suitable dimensions, and the areas are made available for approaching, reaching, handling, or utilizing, regardless of the individual's body size, posture, or mobility. So let's dive a little bit deeper.

Let's look at ADA. Now the ADA is an Americans with Disability Act, and this act was based off of the Civil Rights Act, and it basically forbids discrimination against any individual with a disability, right? So the ADA Act extends off of the Civil Rights Act, and ADA interior design involves the creation and the arrangement of indoor environments that are accessible, practical, and secure for people with disabilities, following the guidelines outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you are designing a space that is public, right, a restaurant, a commercial building, you have to consider and incorporate strategies for ADA.

This isn't an option. This is part of, especially for those that live in California, we have very strict laws in California as far as how we approach ADA, and there's specific items that need to be addressed, and I'll share some of those with you in this lesson. Now interior designers who are incorporating ADA standards, they should adhere to the ADA standards, so make sure they're following some of the rules and regulations, and I'll share some of those in just a second.

They should design inclusive spaces, and they should also balance functionality and aesthetics, right? So it's not all just about how the space looks. We have to think about how it functions, and not only how it functions for one individual, but how it functions for someone that may potentially have a disability. And designers need to understand the legal and ethical responsibilities that go along with designing these types of buildings, right? So designing a private residence is very different from designing a restaurant that serves the public, right? And so we have to think about this.

So let's look at this example here. This is an example of equitable use where anyone could use this particular playground, right? You'll notice that the way the playground is designed, first the materials on the ground are soft, which prevent, you know, an accident or an injury. You'll also notice that the ramps are positioned so that children can climb up easily and still enjoy the playground if they have a disability.

And so these types of strategies are used in public spaces, and they're becoming imperative for us as designers to think about. And when you're designing for equitable use, you want to think about can everyone use this, right? Can anyone with any type of disability be able to go in and at least use part of the functionality of the space, and can we make it so that it's easy for them to access? Another strategy is flexibility. You know, in designers, you know, we may have to consider, obviously, in public spaces, wheelchair access.

So, you know, it doesn't mean that the entire design has to incorporate other rules and regulations for how steep the ramp needs to be, and it's actually 1 in 12. So every 12 feet, the ramp can only go up one foot. Or for every 12 inches, it can only go up one inch.

So there's standards for you to follow. But flexibility allows us to meet possibly have stairs and a ramp set up so that regardless of your abilities, there are options, right? And so with flexibility, we provide options in the design for individuals to work with universal design and ADA. Now, I also mentioned that one of the concepts was low physical effort.

So, you know, being in a wheelchair and allowing for an individual to access certain furniture items, and here you can see it's the piano, and there are codes and regulations as far as how much space is needed for a wheelchair to turn around. There's a 60-inch turning radius, which means there's a clear area, which you can see in the center of this room, that allows a wheelchair to do a complete 360-degree turn if they needed to do so, and they should be able to do so with low physical effort. So this is just another design strategy when designing for ADA.

Now, universal design and ADA, as I mentioned, there are a number of codes, and you can see here, these are standard codes right out of the codebook. You have certain minimums, right? So this first image that shows the door, you have to have at least 60 inches clear, which means when that door is open, there can't be anything obstructing that door, right? So you can't put a piece of furniture there. Well, the nice thing about these codes is it tells you exactly how to design your space.

If you know there's going to be a door to an entry, you have to keep that area clear. The other part of this diagram, you'll see it says 18 inches minimum on the pull side. That means that there can't be a bookshelf or encasement or anything within that 18-inch minimum zone, and that's because if there is an individual in a wheelchair, they need that 18 inches to be able to reach around and grab the door handle and pull the door open, right? If we look at the second image on the top right, we can see that there are literally dimensions for maximum heights for reach.

So you can see the 48 inches represents the maximum height that you go to create something that someone would need to reach to grab. If you were in a retail store and you were creating an ADA design, you want to make sure that the products are accessible within that 48 inches so that someone in a wheelchair could access them. I mentioned in the last image, the 60-inch turning radius.

This is a very standard diagram that allows us to understand that if you have a disability and you're in a wheelchair, you have to be able to turn and you have to be able to clear through areas and be able to get out, right? Going through a door is one thing, but turning around and exiting the space is something in itself. And so we have to think about that. So what this means is that in each room, you have to have a clear 60-inch diameter where an individual can turn and head towards the exit.

The next image shows a couple of reaches as well, 44-inch max when you've got a countertop and a 20-inch max as far as height, or excuse me, width off of the wall. And so depending on what you're designing, there are specific codes that will tell you how far projections off the wall, shelves, countertop heights, all of that. With the last image here, you can see that there is a limit to how far protrusions can happen.

So let's say you have a fire extinguisher that's in a school and it's in a glass box. That glass box cannot extend past four inches or so from that wall. So again, these codes are designed to help you as an interior design figure out exactly how to approach universal design in ADA.

So the good news is there's a lot of standards that are out there that you can learn from that will allow you to create and have fun with the space while making it completely universal in its design. Here's an example of an ADA accessible public space. Remember I mentioned earlier that the ramp has to have a ratio of 1 in 12, which means it's very subtle, right? The ramp is not steep.

For every 12 feet, the ramp only goes up one foot, right? And this is standard, right? So incorporating ramps is one thing, but you can't just incorporate a ramp in a space because you might not have enough room. So you have to be very intelligent the way that you design these spaces and you have to make sure that you have enough room to pull it off. So here's an example of an accessible public space.

Here in this example, you can see that there's also the accessible space on the left and there's plenty of, you know, there's plenty of room for an individual in a wheelchair to be able to turn around and get out. But also the spacing in between the aisles has certain distances. And the image here represents that, you know, we can still be creative, right? Even if we have to follow codes and even if we have to, you know, design for ADA and accessibility, it can still be innovative.

It can still be creative. I mean, look at the design of the lighting. Look at the design of the floor and the lighting above and the shelves and some of the exhibits in this museum space.

And it's still very creative. So don't think of these codes as something that is going to hinder your design. Think about it as something that can completely assist with the innovation that you're already doing with your creativity and add to the design itself as far as being universal.

Great. Let's take a break and the next video will cover culturally sensitive design and I will see you then.