Issue: Universal design emerged in 1950's when the »barrier-free« movement started in the United States of America, Europe and Japan. Concern about architectural obstacles first appeared in residential architecture. Slovenia followed the trend of universal design by adopting law acts that demand barrier-free access to public buildings and apartment buildings as well as their barrier-free use. Despite all that, there are not enough buildings designed on the principles of universal design.
Purpose: The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis was to produce a redesign proposal of sanitary facilities and of the information path at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Above all, we wanted to make the faculty building easier to access and use for the wheelchair users.
Method: The working method included an overview of legislation, researches and examples of good practice as well an evaluation of the current state at the Faculty of Health Sciences. On the basis of the current state, we produced guidelines and proposed solutions for the wheelchair users on the ground floor.
Results: We found sources that describe basis and principles of the universal design, include examples of good practice and design guidelines for buildings accessible to everyone. Slovenian legislation and the international standard showed demands for making buildings accessible to the widest possible number of people. We produced a redesign proposal of sanitary facilities on the ground floor and of the information path.
Conclusions: Universal design concept should be included in built environment as a whole. In this case, a cooperation of all built environment design actors, including civil engineers, architects, urban planners and health workers, is essential.
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