|
What is Post-Occupancy Evaluation?
The Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access conducted a multi-year research project designed to validate the claimed benefits and evaluate examples of universal design in public buildings.
This project, Buildings in Use, is directed by Dr. Gary Scott Danford,
environmental psychologist and Architecture professor at SUNY/Buffalo's School of Architecture & Planning.
To test the claim that designing environments according to the seven Principles of Universal Design
makes them more usable for everyone, the multi-year "Buildings in Use" research project conducted
case studies of an office building in Manhattan, a series of fast food restaurants in upstate New
York, and public streetscape and hotel settings in Las Vegas. The data from these three case studies
were not only broadly supportive of the claimed benefit of universal design but also encouraging for
the continued development of universal design as a design philosophy.
The first case study of Lighthouse International's universally designed
headquarters building in New York City (Mitchell Giugola Architects) collected observational and interview data
confirming universal design's ability to produce building features that proved to be more usable not only for
individuals with hearing, mobility and vision impairments but also for individuals without impairment as well.
The second case study of fast food restaurants in Western New York reconfirmed the first case study's validation
of the claimed benefits of universal design by comparing customers' behavioral and perceptual experiences with
design features that ranged from being universally designed to ADA-compliant to ADA-noncompliant.
Third case study tested the predicted usability of selected design features on streetscapes and in hotels
and casinos in Las Vegas against observations of both older and younger users' behaviors in those settings.
Video documentation of this case study provides qualitative evidence that supports the use of universal
design in a broad context.
IDEA documentation of these case studies is available on DVD from the
Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access. These videos provide a unique and exciting look
into the research being done in the field.
From 1999-2004, the visit-ability Initiative was funded by the United States Department of Education through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, through Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Universal Design at Buffalo
No endorsement should be assumed by N.I.D.R.R. or the United States Government for the content contained on this website.
| 
