Science talks: Universal design for more usable, livable and healthy buildings

Roberta Cassi and Turid Borgestrand Øien are members of the Bevica Foundation ph.d.- and postdoc network. Both have a background in architecture, but their research focuses on different parts of the building process. When asked to do a presentation of her research for the BLOXhub series “Healthy Buildings, High Performance, Happy hearts & minds” Roberta invited both Turid as well as Erica Isa Mosca, Politecnico di Milano to participate in the presentation.

Roberta’s research focuses on how sport and leisure facilities can be designed to support and improve the experiences of people with mobility, visual or hearing impairments, who is currently participating less frequently in sport activities.

Turid’s research is on the role of lighting in rehabilitation. The project focuses on human/environment interaction and is an architechtural anthropological study of professional practices of a group of low vision consultants for example home visits to citizens.

Even though the two researchers are looking at different aspects of the built environment, they feel like their areas of expertise overlap and can benefit from each other.

“What we have in common” Roberta Cassi says, “is the focus on how the built environment can support and enable the user, even though our approaches to the subject and areas of research are different, they complement each other well.”

Turid Borgestrand Øien expands: “Our approaches speak to different areas within the disciplines, where architects, buildings and users interact with different professionals and different parts of the building process. Combining our knowledge gives a fuller view of the design and performance of the building”.

Watch the entire talk here

Read more about Robertas research here

Read more about Turids research here