Architecture as a Matter of Inclusion: Constructing Disability Awareness in Architectural Education

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.

Whenua Ora: Land Healing. Designing Architecture that Incorporates Nature and Mātauranga Māori

<p>In 2006, 86% of New Zealanders lived in urban centres, a number that is expected to have risen (“Urban and rural migration”). Urban lifestyles have been linked to increased risk of obesity, stress, cardiovascular diseases and cancers among other things (Murray). As this percentage continues to rise, New Zealand faces the challenge of creating urban environ- ments that do not adversely affect mental and physical wellbeing. It can be argued that one factor leading to this loss of wellbeing in urban centres is the disconnection to nature and the healing effects that nature provides. In New Zealand, Māori have developed a strong relationship with the land. The under- standing that nature benefits health is deeply embedded within their culture. This research attempts to address the role of architecture in facilitating urban health and wellbeing is- sues through the incorporation of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) of healing and nature. The integration of Mātauranga Māori into this thesis comes from the recognition that our wellbeing can be greatly affected by our relationship with nature and that Māori culture best embodies this in a New Zealand context. Currently, Māori knowledge is under- represented in New Zealand’s predominantly western mainstream culture. This research is significant as it explores the role of architecture in facilitating a connection with nature in a bicultural urban environment, an area that is currently underexplored. Incorporating these values into design generates the potential to increase Māori representation in the designed environment as well as expand the architectural knowledge of designing for wellbeing. The chosen site, Birdwood Reserve is an underutilised bush reserve in the suburb of Karori, Wellington. Birdwood Reserve is situated in the nation’s capital, adjacent to Zealandia, an eco-sanctuary that is frequented by tourists. It is a steep valley with access to dense bush and the disturbed Kaiwharawhara stream. Flanked on two sides by environmentally active communities, it offers the potential for community involvement in the healing of the land- scape, helping restore the reserve while healing itself. The intentions of this thesis are addressed through the design of a bicultural wellbeing cen- tre. Through the process of this design, the role of Māori culture in New Zealand architec- ture will be analysed, as well as the potential to reconnect people to nature through design. The final design will explore how to embody the developed framework of bicultural values relevant to architectural design for wellbeing.</p>

Whenua Ora: Land Healing. Designing Architecture that Incorporates Nature and Mātauranga Māori

<p>In 2006, 86% of New Zealanders lived in urban centres, a number that is expected to have risen (“Urban and rural migration”). Urban lifestyles have been linked to increased risk of obesity, stress, cardiovascular diseases and cancers among other things (Murray). As this percentage continues to rise, New Zealand faces the challenge of creating urban environ- ments that do not adversely affect mental and physical wellbeing. It can be argued that one factor leading to this loss of wellbeing in urban centres is the disconnection to nature and the healing effects that nature provides. In New Zealand, Māori have developed a strong relationship with the land. The under- standing that nature benefits health is deeply embedded within their culture. This research attempts to address the role of architecture in facilitating urban health and wellbeing is- sues through the incorporation of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) of healing and nature. The integration of Mātauranga Māori into this thesis comes from the recognition that our wellbeing can be greatly affected by our relationship with nature and that Māori culture best embodies this in a New Zealand context. Currently, Māori knowledge is under- represented in New Zealand’s predominantly western mainstream culture. This research is significant as it explores the role of architecture in facilitating a connection with nature in a bicultural urban environment, an area that is currently underexplored. Incorporating these values into design generates the potential to increase Māori representation in the designed environment as well as expand the architectural knowledge of designing for wellbeing. The chosen site, Birdwood Reserve is an underutilised bush reserve in the suburb of Karori, Wellington. Birdwood Reserve is situated in the nation’s capital, adjacent to Zealandia, an eco-sanctuary that is frequented by tourists. It is a steep valley with access to dense bush and the disturbed Kaiwharawhara stream. Flanked on two sides by environmentally active communities, it offers the potential for community involvement in the healing of the land- scape, helping restore the reserve while healing itself. The intentions of this thesis are addressed through the design of a bicultural wellbeing cen- tre. Through the process of this design, the role of Māori culture in New Zealand architec- ture will be analysed, as well as the potential to reconnect people to nature through design. The final design will explore how to embody the developed framework of bicultural values relevant to architectural design for wellbeing.</p>

The Imaginable City

<p><b>The latter half of the 20th century saw rapid urban development, implemented to meet rapid growth and changing infrastructural needs. Cities around the world became designed homogeneously. In the early decades of the 21st century, the re-inhabitation of the post-industrial city has brought opportunities to bring new ideas to this homogeneity; yet templates and formulas still seem to gain ground: cities are losing their identity, as well as their imaginability. Within this problematic context, New Plymouth Central Area is a representative urban space. New Plymouth District Council has proposed a banally universal design framework, that promises only to continue burying the unique identity of its urban space, rather than liberating it to the imagination. The contemporary discipline still tends to design directly for universal human needs; an approach that ends up suggesting a city’s identity to its citizens, rather than empowering citizens to imagine, and then create, that identity.</b></p> <p>This design-led research proposes that landscape design and urban planning can recover the identity of the New Plymouth Central Area by enhancing its legibility and imaginability. It explores techniques for coordinating mental recognition with visual perceptions, to evoke human imagination of a large-scale urban landscape. It argues that imaginable space can be achieved by creating a mentally identifiable system, with urban patterns, for human physical experimentation and mental recognition to navigate; through agency of this urban system to allow those same dynamics to permeate the history and cultural value of the site; to strengthen the citizen’s recognition of self-identity, which always relates to, and measures itself by, the identity of the land. </p> <p>The outcomes of this research are: an abstract design method that communicates the mental recognition of landscape and its relation to the designed environment; and a physical design solution, testing the abstract method, for a legible and imaginable New Plymouth City.</p>

The Imaginable City

<p><b>The latter half of the 20th century saw rapid urban development, implemented to meet rapid growth and changing infrastructural needs. Cities around the world became designed homogeneously. In the early decades of the 21st century, the re-inhabitation of the post-industrial city has brought opportunities to bring new ideas to this homogeneity; yet templates and formulas still seem to gain ground: cities are losing their identity, as well as their imaginability. Within this problematic context, New Plymouth Central Area is a representative urban space. New Plymouth District Council has proposed a banally universal design framework, that promises only to continue burying the unique identity of its urban space, rather than liberating it to the imagination. The contemporary discipline still tends to design directly for universal human needs; an approach that ends up suggesting a city’s identity to its citizens, rather than empowering citizens to imagine, and then create, that identity.</b></p> <p>This design-led research proposes that landscape design and urban planning can recover the identity of the New Plymouth Central Area by enhancing its legibility and imaginability. It explores techniques for coordinating mental recognition with visual perceptions, to evoke human imagination of a large-scale urban landscape. It argues that imaginable space can be achieved by creating a mentally identifiable system, with urban patterns, for human physical experimentation and mental recognition to navigate; through agency of this urban system to allow those same dynamics to permeate the history and cultural value of the site; to strengthen the citizen’s recognition of self-identity, which always relates to, and measures itself by, the identity of the land. </p> <p>The outcomes of this research are: an abstract design method that communicates the mental recognition of landscape and its relation to the designed environment; and a physical design solution, testing the abstract method, for a legible and imaginable New Plymouth City.</p>

Housing Expectations of Future Seniors Based on an Example of the Inhabitants of Poland

A longer life span, which entails a dynamic increase in the numbers of seniors, poses a wide range of global challenges, among others for engineers and architects. The said challenges include, among others, a well-organised medical care system, proper legislation and social education. The respective planning process should also recognise the important role of a well-designed environment. This paper is intended to analyse the current senior housing solutions in Poland and to define the desirable development of those housing forms that can successfully meet the needs of future seniors. For this purpose, we have analysed the current structure of elderly care. Further, this research was conducted using the diagnostic poll method (“Housing needs of the future seniors”), in order to define the current housing preferences of the young (future seniors). The results thereof provide relevant guidance in the search for spatial solutions that can ensure a high-quality housing environment for seniors in the future, which, at the same time, will facilitate their independent living.

ARCHITECTURAL STRATEGIES THAT PROMOTE CREATION OF SOCIAL BONDS WITHIN ECO-NEIGHBOURHOODS

Modern eco-neighbourhoods are designed to implement the 3e principles: ecology – equality - economy. The ecological aspects require harmony with nature and people. The equality concept stipulates living together in the environment which stimulates individual growth and well-being. The economic aspects encompasses promotion of short-distances circular economy, securing employment for the inhabitants and limiting wasteful spending. The goal of those principles is to create the neighbourhoods, where the well-being of inhabitants is promoted. This paper discusses how the designed environment based on 3e principles can influence the creation of community engagement, social bonds and social capital.

Explorations in Teaching Interior Design: Involving User Perspectives

Understanding the needs and expectations of the intended users of a designed environment is recognized as one of the essential factors that influence the decision-making process in an interior design project. This situation is also reflected in interior design education, where students conventionally design for hypothetical clients and users. This study explores the contribution of a new user-focused and scenario-based design studio modal to students’ approach to successive stages of design processes, learning outcomes, and engagement to the project course during an online education period. Within the scope of the study, second-year interior design students were assigned to real artists and product designers as clients for a workshop for creative production- showroom project. The students had to communicate with their clients, do research and integrate the information they have collected into their design proposals. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the proposed model from students’ view. It is believed that the approach proposed and applied within the scope of the study has the potential to present a different perspective in interior design studio courses.

Adaptive e-learning systems through learning styles: A review of the literature

The domain of education has taken great leaps by capitalizing on technology and the utilization of modern devices. Nowadays, the established term "one size fits all" has begun to fade. The research focuses on personalized solutions to provide a specially designed environment on the needs and requirements of the learner. The adaptive platforms usually use Learning Styles to offer a more effective learning experience. This review analyzes the learner model, adaptation module, and domain module, originating from the study of 42 papers published from 2015 to 2020. As more modern techniques for adaptation get incorporated into e-learning systems, such techniques must be compliant with educational theories. This review aims to present the theoretical and technological background of Adaptive E-learning Systems while emphasizing the importance and efficiency of the utilization of Learning Styles in the adaptive learning process. This literature review is designated for the researchers in this field and the future creators and developers of adaptive platforms.