Study of Universal Design

After touring Carpenter Hall and Daggy Hall here at Washington State University through the perception of daily life in a wheel chair I quickly realized that most general designs in both buildings were not universally designed for wheel chair accesses.   I learned that even the bathroom stall which is meant to be designed to be wheel chair accessible is truly anything but it, as I watched my partner in this project struggle to get turned around once she had entered the stall, as well as turn around again to exit it.On top of the bad stall design, the mirror in both bathrooms was at a height where a person in a wheel chair isn't able to see themselves.  I noticed a commonality in dis-functional design when we visited the coffee shop from a wheel chair perspective.  Here I found myself looking up at the counter unable to see the top of the counter, or even reach the tip jar.  

After my experience I can definitely sum up both Carpenter Hall and Daggy Hall to not be universally designed, because the environment isn't fit for meeting the appropriate accommodations people with special needs need on a daily basis. 

As a society we are hurt if everyone isn't able to use a space, because it limits who and what activities can happen in a space.  There is hope for the future though in the sense that new technology is being made.  Such as automatic height adjustable wheel chairs, and different fixtures such as grab bars that double as towel racks and appliances that are on a levee to pull up or down to the right height to help people with special needs get to or around different spaces. 

"Home"

 Inspired by the song "This House that built me" by Miranda Lambert, I was able to create two dimensional abstractions that to me represented the song.  Taking the various two dimensional abstractions that caught my eye I took and started making into three dimensional abstractions.  By the end of this process I came up with the final model (shown in the last picture).  This model represents her song (in my interpretation) because the character she is singing about is lost and wanted to return home to find a sense of them self.  Therefore I made the upward spiral with a grey and blackish color on top to represent the grey area the character feels like they are stuck in.  Once the character goes home they are hit with a bunch of emotions.  Therefore I made the half a heart in the middle that is broken if you are looking at it vertically, but a heart rate of emotions if looked at horizontally.  Last this journey the character is on to find themselves has been painful but very beneficial to them as now they know  that the house was just a house, and although there was some hurt they can only go up from here.  Which is why there is an arrow pointing up at the end of the spiral and a purple tone underneath the spiral to represent a sense of calm and inner peace with the past.  Along with the spiral representing this, the inside broken heart if looked at vertically sideways also represents a staircase which represents their journey as the character climbs upward and grows as a person.  This project was very interesting to me, as the more and more I listened to the song the more creative abstractions I was able to come up with.  I am very happy with my end result as I feel I was able to represent all of the mixed emotions felt by the character and truly represent their home.

Sustainable Kitchen

Researching different elements of the kitchen and how different materials and appliances make it sustainable turned out to be a great experience for me.  Not only did I learn about some different appliances and the relationship they have to one another in the kitchen but I learned how having some of these appliances can benefit your health/ conserve energy.  Beyond the appliances alone I learned about the different materials and how they can benefit your health, such as silestone which is a type of granite.  Making a kitchen sustainable, energy efficient, as well as functional and accessible are all things that are needed in a universal design and will make any client happy allowing them to use their kitchen from when they are young till the day they die.  All in all this was a very valuable experience!