Josh Dickson

The purpose of this project is to explore the potential of upgrading historic tenements in Dundee to facilitate accessibility and universal design within an architectural quality. 

Buildings of the past have presented, and still do, obstacles for persons with disabilities. Access for a person with disabilities have been made difficult for reasons such as having to locate alternative entrances, sometimes needing to find special lifts to achieve this as well as bathroom spaces that must be made to accommodate their needs. The built environment has in history mostly catered for the able bodied people and it was not until the last 20 - 30 years that regulations for disabled people came into play and shifted the way in which architecture adapted to meet these needs in a movement that is called universal design. Universal design is design and configuration of a built environment so that it can be accessed, recognized and used to its greatest extent by anyone, no matter of ability, disability, age or size. With the introduction of universal design in the 20th century it only makes sense that older buildings should be introduced to this form of design, so why is it that universal design is mostly just introduced in new buildings and rarely in existing ones.