Universal Design: Solutions for Barrier-Free Living PDF
Preview Universal Design: Solutions for Barrier-Free Living
universal design Oliver Herwig universal design Solutions for a barrier-free living Birkhäuser Basel · Boston · Berlin contents 6 My Five Hypotheses 9 Universal Design Means Design for everyone 12 youth Commodities and elderly Products 17 Arriving at the “Quality of Life” — terminology 21 Anything but old — a User’s Perspective 27 the small Universe — An observation of Universal Design classics by Gerrit terstiege 32 on Using the Users’ Perspective 33 Age as an economic Factor or: comfort for everyone 36 Gold Rush Mood in the Japanese silver Market 39 the Fluke: the Porsche cayenne — comfort for All 42 Many small steps / Interview with Mathias Knigge 49 Universal Design in PraCtiCe: geareD to age froM HeaD to foot 49 seventy overnight: shopping in an Age simulation suit 54 An eye for an eye, an ear for an ear 55 smart Home — Intelligence in objects 63 eye 65 new User Interfaces, new Interactive systems 70 orientation systems — Disorientation systems: Written typeface and symbols in the Age of Universal Use 72 Helpful signs 73 Losing the Way in the Forest of signs 76 the Future will be a challenge / Interview with Ursula Wangler und Frank Abele 85 ear 85 Modern crossover: Glasses that Hear 86 size Alone Does not Matter: Mobile Phones on the Road to Becoming an ergonomic Product 94 Removing Barriers, challenging Users / Interview with Konstantin Grcic 4 101 Hand 102 It’s All in the Packaging 112 everything in one: Rolling, Grasping, Pushing 120 nothing Will Burn Here 129 foot 129 Doors suddenly open 131 Walk Well 133 Mobility Despite Age 134 All on Board! 136 the speedy Wheelchair 138 comfortable and Mobile in Age / Interview with Peter naumann 142 How should We Design a Home? 144 Barrier-free Building as the task of the Future 146 Giving Wings to Restrictions / Interview with christine Degenhart 151 converting Asserts — Integrated Housing in Regensburg 152 comfortable and Active: Adult care Facility in Domat/ems by Dietrich schwarz 156 Building for the elderly is Building for everyone: Residential complexes by Baumschlager eberle Architects 160 standards Do not solve Problems / Interview with c arlo Baumschlager 164 Multigenerational Living: social change as catalyst for new Design solutions 168 tHe fUtUre Will be easy anD CoMfortable 170 aPPenDix 170 the Principles of Universal Design 172 Abbreviations 173 Bibliography 175 Photo credits 5 My Five Hypotheses First hypothesis: Tomorrow’s society will be older, more v aried, and more difcult to narrow down to a consensus. Second hypothesis: The future will not be won with more equipment and more intelligent features, but with products that make life easier. Third hypothesis: There will be a fundamental shift in per- spectives. We will not develop a more aerodynamic Rollator, but rather build houses and spaces that are accessible for all. Fourth hypothesis: The balance shifts the moment the new seniors stop standing in line at the pharmacy holding a prescription, and begin working as salespeople in depart- ment stores. Demand creates new products, and choice creates the market. Fifth hypothesis: Studying seniors leads to better designs. 6 7 giusePPe toMasi di laMPedusa, The Leopard 8 Universal Design Means Design for everyone This book was written from a central European perspective. Initially, I only planned to write about objects and rooms for seniors, but I then realized that it is not a matter of targeted solutions. It concerns us all. It is about Universal Design. The book would have come to diferent conclusions had it been about Japan, or the United States or Russia. Because societies think, feel, and age diferently. However there are certain things such as desires, ambitions, and dreams that remain consistent. Some are addressed here. Yet this book should not exhaust itself completely on things and spaces, but rather ofer perspectives on and open horizons to a new, barrier-free world for everyone. In this sense, Universal Design is a key. There are two very diferent kinds of forecasts: hard and soft. Those that quote numbers seem to be correct, but those that make g eneral predictions cannot be disputed. I would like to move between both poles and formulate fve hypotheses. First: Tomorrow’s society will be older, more varied, and more d ifcult to trim down to a consensus. How does that feel? To answer this, it is worth recalling the last century’s view of the future. A car that ran on atomic power did not seem impossible or even dangerous; it was inevitable. The Ford Nucleon was designed to travel up to 8,000 kilometers. The nuclear reactor beneath the extended front did not even change the car’s design very much. In 1957, it even became feasible to have a car without a driver. It was designed to travel along rails above an empty highway while inside the family played a board game: a time- less vision betrayed only by the characteristic tail fns on the car and the occupants’ ideal family clothing and hairstyles. It is a view of the 1950s but also one of the future. Driverless cars have long been in use and will be traveling along our streets in a few years. Unbelievable. We have relinquished the steering wheel, but the nuclear car proved a technical dead end that belongs to the past. What the future will look like is still unclear, but not the powers that fuel it. Population statistics are a fact and thus have little to do with inven- tions and technology. In 2030, my generation, those in their forties today, will be the relative majority. Maybe we will plot a conspiracy of elders, or be lying in a hospital, sedated and with no one to care for us because we 9 ---------------------------------------- nuvo Japanese Service Robot, manufactured by ZMP Inc. There is no other nation more enamored with robots and progress than Japan. Will automatic household maids also take on the service work here? Would they entertain and care for the old and frail? The idea alone makes some people’s blood run cold. 10
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