How do we figure out what makes a universally designed home affordable to build?
Author: Scott Pruett
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Costs to build are rising.
Hannah Hoyt takes a deep dive into a number of issues related to the costs of multifamily housing in her newly-published report with Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, More for Less? An Inquiry into Design and Construction Strategies for Addressing Multifamily Housing Costs. It’s worth a read. There’s a lot to talk about, but […]
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Different has to be experienced.
We run The Universal Design Project on software called Basecamp. The company that created Basecamp is on the verge of releasing a new email system called Hey. What’s interesting about this is that they’re declaring email “broken” and are more or less redesigning the way people interact with email. Here’s a recent tweet from their […]
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There’s a 60% Probability…
“In the United States of America, it has been estimated that there is a 60% probability that any new house will be occupied by a person with a functional impairment over its life span.” Smith SK, Rayer S, Smith EA. Aging and disability: implications for the housing industry and housing policy in the United States. […]
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Bias is an enemy.
The first phrase of the definition of universal design is “design that’s usable by all people.” It’s easy to think, “cool, that just means everyone,” which is true, but that’s also a really complex idea. Ensuring usability across the entire spectrum of people in our society is no simple task. Here at The Universal Design Project, we focus on people […]
Despite universal design being a “thing” since the 1980s, there is still widespread confusion about it today, which we believe is largely due to people not fully understanding the depth of what it means.
Universal design is often described as “design for all ages and abilities,” but what does that really mean? It’s gaining popularity every day, partially because of the size of the baby boomer generation, and partially because of society’s increasing interest in being inclusive to people with disabilities. What is universal design? Design that’s usable by […]
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Universal design: why it’s about time
A sense of urgency is felt when someone declares “it’s about time!” We feel that way about the need to make our communities more welcoming to people affected by disability. When the design of something doesn’t work for someone, that person either gets excluded or has to struggle unnecessarily. It’s time for that to change. […]