Disability, Space, Architecture

This diverse collection of essays proposes creative and critical ways of engaging in disability studies within the field of architecture. From rethinking technologies and design practices to reframing dis/ability across the theoretical and historical discourses of architecture, it challenges dominant assumptions about the embodied occupation of designed environments. Instead of simply framing disability as a problem to be solved by way of regulations and universal spatial solutions, embodied dis/abilities are explored as opportunities rather than impediments to design thinking and socio-spatial awareness. - Dr Helene Frichot, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Sweden Disability, Space, Architecture: A Reader is a critical and thought provoking collection of essays broadening the potential of dis/ability studies for designers, educators and academics. Seeking to radically relocate disability front and center within architectural discourse, the Reader positions disability as a transformative place to design and educate from. For the built environment to become more responsive and inclusive, we must not only acknowledge but also conceptualize differently the relationship between heterogeneous bodies and space as far more complex and intersectional, providing a trove of under examined spatial potential. - Lori A. Brown , Professor, School of Architecture, Syracuse University, USA This brilliant gathering of texts, both synthetic and surprising, should be taught in every architecture and design program, and it may well become the new standard text for interdisciplinary disability studies courses generally. - Susan Schweik, Professor of English and Disability Studies, UC Berkeley, USA