This class, Inclusive Design for the Built Environment I: Participatory Design (IDBE 1) is the first part of a two-semester practicum that teaches students an Inclusive Design approach by working with a client on an actual project. This year we’re partnering with Columbus House, a non-profit that runs homeless shelters in Connecticut, and Gray Organschi Architecture on the renovation and expansion of a shelter in New Haven which provides beds, meals, and case management for 81 adult men and women. During this class, students will learn and apply Participatory Design tools combining techniques from Public Health (needs assessment, built environment assessment) and Architecture (site assessments, body maps, co-design workshops), geared to obtaining data that measures the impact of the built environment on health and well-being that can inform the design process. At the end of the term, students generate an Inclusive Design Brief, an illustrated report that describes recommendations for addressing the intersecting needs of people of different ages, genders, races, religions and disabilities.
Instructor permission is required based on the submission of an Expression of Interest with the following info: Name, Class year, Major/Concentration, Email and a paragraph describing relevant experiences that would allow you to make a meaningful contribution to the class.