Some good things do come out of wars, even if only indirectly. Since 2003, the U.S. Government has been spending tens of millions of dollars to develop the most advanced technology for the men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the scientists to receive this funding, MIT Media Lab professor Dr. Hugh Herr, used the money to develop a revolutionary prosthetic foot, the Powerfoot BiOM. The product has changed the lives of a few army veterans, and now a $15 million investment might eventually make the BiOM available to us civilians too, through the company that Herr founded in 2006, iWalk.

Herr was 17 when both his legs were amputated below the knee because of a mountain climbing accident in 1982. He has since dedicated his life to bringing scientific innovation, and sensitivity, to the design of prostheses. His first invention, the Rheo knee, was licensed and launched commercially by the prosthetics giant Össur in 2004. He started work on the Powerfoot BiOM the same year. It has since gone through several iterations on its road to market-readiness. Herr has worn all of them. Read more…

When news of an ideas competition, focused on designing a neighborhood based on the principles of Universal Design and sustainability, arrived recently I was jazzed. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed by Congress two decades ago, we’ve seen a lot well meaning or uninformed attempts  and some really annoying remedies (like the Braille on hotel room doors: how does a sight-impaired person find this little protrusion?), and some worthwhile things like elegantly pitched curb cuts and architecturally appealing ramps. But there’s so much left of be done! And so I was happy to see that competition organizers and advisors—Brad Benjamin, chair of the AIA’s 2011 Committee on Design (COD), Anne Schopf, partner and director of design at Mahlum, and Josh Safdie, director of the IHCDStudio (Institute for Human Centered Design)—decided to tackle the problem of creating neighborhoods where people of every size and age, every ability and disability can call home, a truly supportive and humane home. So I asked Josh Safdie to tell me more about the big idea behind the completion, the organizers’ hopes for improving the cityscape, and the practice of architecture.  

 Susan S. Szenasy: The 2011 Ideas AIA/YAF/COD Ideas Competition is centered on the principles of Universal Design, in the larger context of environmental and social sustainability. I say it’s about time! Tell us why you’re focusing on the 2020 Games’ Olympic Village in Tokyo? Read more…

You may recall seeing Omhu canes on other blogs, or as a nominee for the People’s Design Award at this year’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Triennial. With their glossy, colorful painted shafts and blonde wood handles they’re a refreshing take on a product that’s seen little innovation in generations, and certainly has never been this good looking. Read more…

This summer, to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, four new rules were proposed by the federal government. These amendments could make the design of objects and interfaces more accessible to people of all abilities. While some designers are already addressing such issues as making websites usable by the visually impaired, there’s much more to be done. I believe an umbrella set of rules could be a great advancement in making accessibility standards universal across all websites, objects, furniture, and public places.

 As an industrial designer I am especially interested in the proposed regulation to equipment and furniture. It suggests making objects for places accessible to the public, whether these properties are owned by private or public interests, more usable than they are currently, by people of compromised abilities. This seemingly small amendment to the ADA promises to have a long-term impact on the development of a wide variety of products, from ATM machines to library furniture, from medical equipment to exercise machines. Read more…

A new trend is emerging as the baby boom grows older. Some homes and communities are designed to allow residents to age-in-place, or for young people to begin their lives in a house that can, eventually, be adapted as their mobility and accessibility needs change over time. These forward-thinking models provide an excellent vision for the future of housing. They can also serve as inspiration for improvements in consumer goods and the design of spaces, beginning today. Read more…

This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), our federal government’s attempt to ensure the civil rights of U.S citizens with disabilities. It requires that all public spaces and programs be accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. This, of course, is a commendably idealistic standard. But as anyone who navigates the real world (either with a disability, or as in my case, with someone who has a disability) will tell you, the promise of the well-intentioned law has come true only partially. There’s much more work to be done! While the ADA has been a good start, and now that the architecture, building, and planning industries have gotten the ADA design standards down fairly well, it’s time for progress to be made in other areas of design. Read more…

In our running series on accessibility issues in buildings and cities, we’ve looked at some ways that New York City in particular may fall short when it comes to providing easy, well-maintained design for people with limited mobility. So when our publisher noticed what appeared to be a dearth of handicap-friendly design at a well-known restaurant—one that happens to sit in a landmarked building—we took it upon ourselves to investigate.

What we found was one small-scale instance of just how complex these issues can be. In this case, the restaurant blamed the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for rejecting its request to install an exterior-stairwell hand rail. The LPC countered that it had never received such a request, and that it would almost certainly have approved one if it had. The restaurant’s architect had only worked on the interiors, and therefore claimed ignorance of the whole situation.

It didn’t seem productive to investigate the matter beyond this impasse—but we did want to take a closer look at the larger issues at play here. What interested us most about this case was the building’s historic status. How do city government and private owners reconcile the desire to protect the character of historic buildings with the need to promote accessibility?

In theory, the solution is pretty straightforward. When asked about accessibility features in commercial spaces, a representative from the LPC said, “We’ve never turned down a request for barrier-free access. Our job is to try to figure out a way to solve a problem without detracting from the historic building or diminishing its significance.” To prove the point, LPC provided us with a list of landmarked buildings where new additions had been approved. Where accessibility features like ramps or lifts are necessary, the agency works with building owners to mitigate the visual effect of those additions, sometimes suggesting an appropriate color or material palette or camouflaging the new design with landscaping.

But exploring the bureaucratic world of design regulation made us curious to know more about which buildings fall under what regulations—and since we’d already started, we decided to follow the rabbit hole of building code just a little further. Here, for those curious about how these things work, is what we learned: Read more…

This week’s Accessibility Watch is travelling south to Rutledge, Georgia. About 50 miles outside of Atlanta, it is home to Camp Twin Lakes, where children with serious illnesses and other life challenges can still enjoy the summer-camp experience, thanks to amenities like climate-controlled cabins, fully accessible recreation facilities, and an on-site medical center. Last summer, the camp opened a monumental tree house, the kind that most children can only dream of. It has five different spaces, it’s filled with fresh air and natural light, and most importantly, it’s wheelchair accessible.

The design originated from the campers themselves. Read more…

I have never before muscled in on presentations when I’ve been asked to moderate a panel, but this time I did. It was last week at Build Boston, during a full-day symposium on socially sustainable design, when I broke my neutrality rule and showed some examples that make New York City—and other American cities too—an obstacle course for people with some disability or another. The topic of our panel, “New Models of Home for our Third Age,” made me think about how dense urban settlements, with their notoriously small living spaces, invite us to make the city itself into our living rooms (lecture halls and exhibition spaces), dining rooms (restaurants), and backyards (parks). What with the growing discussion about the advantages of urban living for aging populations—mostly because of easy access to goods and services—I wanted to call attention to the reality of our cities: how inaccessible they really are, and how much remedial work they need at every turn.

What follows are photos of three places that our publisher, Horace Havemeyer, has identified as problematic. How does a man with forearm crutches, who likes to eat in restaurants and visit cultural institutions, get past such thoughtless or piecemeal amenities? I also included one small, hopeful sign for the future. Read more…

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I use forearm crutches and I find it a bit tricky to open doors coming in from the street. Over the years, I have been gratified by the number of pedestrians who swoop in front of me and open the door; once I’m inside they scoot off on their journey, always at a very rapid pace. Who says New Yorkers are not concerned about the plight of the needy? I am always surprised and bolstered with a great sense of optimism after these encounters. There are other examples: Once a police sergeant helped me cross a two-lane street so that I could more easily get into a car. Some restaurants send their staff out to hold the outside doors.

The average citizen and even the police are attuned and helpful to the handicapped, but what about property owners, good-government groups, and the city governing agencies and legislative bodies? They are not. Maybe the difference is an issue of abstraction. The handicapped are not real to them because someone needing help is not in front of them. Read more…