Landscape Architect Articles

Lessons in Universal Design08-17-06 | News

Lessons in Universal Design

Part of the UCLA campus. Try getting us this in a wheel chair.

For a few hours, students in Mike O’Brien?EUR??,,????'???s UCLA Extension course ?EUR??,,????'??Human Factors in Landscape Architecture?EUR??,,????'?? got a feel for what it?EUR??,,????'???s like to get around the hilly Westwood campus in a wheel chair. O’Brien, a Los Angeles city planner and graduate of UCLA’s landscape architecture program, believes this part of the course requires more than talk to teach students about designing for universal access. That is why he had the students take a turn in a wheel chair to experience how functional the campus is for the disabled. LA Times staff writer Melissa Pamer was on hand to view the class.

One student struggled to get up what seemed a slight grade, but was measured as 8.33 degrees. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act the slope of a ramp between 1:8 and 1:10 is allowed for a maximum rise of 3 inches. A slope steeper than 1:8 is not allowed.

At one point O’Brien pointed out a connection between a building with wide steps taking up most of the width, with a wheelchair ramp off to the side. ?EUR??,,????'??Why put steps at all,?EUR??,,????'?? was one question asked. A Vietnam vet in a wheelchair was also on hand to give the class his viewpoint. He suggested the steps were the design focus, but that if the ramp had been integrated into the design, instead of segregated, both able-bodied and the disabled would have used it.

O’Brien has taught the landscape architecture program for eight years. While only three hours was spent on the subject of universal access, including the evolution of the legal standards, O?EUR??,,????'???Brien said there could be an entire course on the subject