Zahari Syafi Arradhin

2106718666

Consideration on Excellence Design for Users with Disabilities

Creating excellence designs for people with disabilities really needs to be
considered. It should be noted that as a designer, you must be able to create a
design with the ultimate impact of the proposed design. Regarding this, an
architect has a role to people, here I refer to them as "users", and also to their
surroundings. The role that will be focused here is the role of architecture to
enable an environment for those in disadvantage, more specifically people with
disabilities. This is related to architecture as designers of course, where they
have to create designs with ultimate impact and high quality.
Regardless of the design that will be proposed, the architect must know in
advance about the person who will be impacted, or the user. Because here the
focus is on people with disabilities as users, so you must first know about
people with disabilities, who are people with disabilities, what their needs are,
and what distinguishes them from other users. As architects, we must relate
their relationship to the surrounding environment, such as how they experience
space, their role in the community, and what they need from around them.
If the explanation above is about how disabled users relate to their
surroundings, then how does the surrounding environment provide the
fulfilment of needs for these disabled users? Of course, in an environment or
community, there are conflicting needs from various types of users in it. To be
more specific, the needs of disabled users are certainly different from other
users. Because they are different from other users, the way they adapt to their
surroundings is also different. To solve this problem, in the community there is
something called universal design. Universal design is a design that can be
accessed, used, and understood optimally by different types of users. This
design can be accessed equally by users with different needs. For example, the
manufacture of a special wheelchair ladder with a flat road next to a regular
ladder with a climbing road. Although it can be accessed universally, but there
is a difference in experiencing space in the design. From the description above,
we understand how people with disabilities experience space.
After understanding how the user with disability experiences space, we
will understand how the relationship between disabled users and their
community and surroundings is. However, we must first acknowledge that the
user is a part and has a role in the community. One of the roles of disabled users
in the community is the creation of designs to provide needs for disabled users.
Their surrounding also affects the relationship between disabled users and other
users. In making the space around them will affect how they will move and use
it, so it will create a relationship between them. “design should be the crucial
anvil on which the human environment, in all its detail, is shaped and
constructed for the betterment and delight of all.” (Heskett, 2005, p. 1). From
this it is known that apart from meeting needs, a design can create a relationship
between disabled users and other users, and much more. That's what I call
excellence design, design with "high quality".
From here I will discuss more specifically about understanding the design
excellence. I will use an example from the architecture project design, Sopoong-
gil Community by UnSangDong Architects. Sopoong-gil Community is part of
an urban renewal program that was not developed by government or local
administration and finally succeeded in operating as a public place based on
what kind of program the public wanted there. Sopoong-gil Community is
famous for its long wheelchair path that extends all the way from the 1st floor to
the roof top on the 3rd floor. this will be the core of our discussion.
The wheelchair ramp at Sopoong-gil Community is more than a
wheelchair ramp. The long wheelchair path was created with the concept of
open space, space with no boundaries. It creates a community space which also
creates an interactive connection with various users' choices. Various activities
can take place there for everyone who wants to use it. To create space for the
wheelchair ramp, they made changes to the floor changes that made the floor
more spacious and without boundaries. This revamped floor can provide space
for book shelves, rest areas, seats for performances and so on. So basically it's a
multi-purpose ramp way.
The interesting thing about this design is that according to the building
code, wheelchair ramp is not included in the building area and floor area. So
they just added the wheelchair ramp design from an idea based on the building
code. Access for disabled users such as wheelchair ramps and elevators or lifts
must be installed here, but instead of them making it a normal facility for
disabled users, they make it a space that everyone can use for various activities.
It can be used for galleries of the poet, galleries for local people, and extension
space for performances and book cafes. Design that can proposing a new use of
space, this is what I say as design excellence.
In conclusion, the explanation above describes the need to consider
excellence design for users with disabilities. High-quality design is not only
meant to fulfill the needs of certain users, but it also gives the ultimate effect to
those who access it and also gives effect to the surrounding users. More than
that, the design is able to propose a new use of some particular space. So it
gives the idea of a high quality and excellence design, which is a multi-purpose
design. The important part that I will convey here is that this applies to all
designers with various types of designs, so they are not fixated on the architect
as a designer, but the designer as a whole. “the designer must be able to predict
the ultimate effects of their proposed design” (Jones, 2009, p. 78).

Reference:
Jones, J.C (2009). What Is Designing?
Heskett, J. (2005). Design: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press
Inc.
https://www.archdaily.com/910628/sopoong-gil-community-unsangdong-
architects