Inclusive Design in Architecture

Abstract

Iraq is one of the countries with the highest rates of disability and therefore it is one of the sources for the presence of the disabled. In 2014, the percentage of people with disabilities was estimated at 15% of the total population of Iraq. The Iraqi Parliament approved Law 38 (Law for the Care of Persons with Disabilities and Special Needs), which came after Iraq acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on (20/3/2013). Moreover, People with different abilities, sizes, and ages must be able to use their environments independently and have accessibility.This study highlights some of the barriers of access and the possibility of interacting with the surrounding environment faced by people with different abilities, so the possibilities must be available to help them work and learn, especially within the university campus, which is related to architecture and design. It should also be available to users with different abilities, including motor, mental and sensory abilities, and for various groups of users such as children, families, and the elderly. It has been found that people with disabilities who are of the appropriate age for work have little chance of finding a job compared to their healthy peers, and this is related to their low level of education. Therefore the university is the first threshold for graduating useful individuals for society and providing them with the education that enables them to lead their lives normally. Thus, the university educational environment should be supportive through fair use for all without any discrimination or special treatment or drawing attention to the weakness and seclusion of users.As article15 (a) third of Law 38 requires the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to provide educational opportunities for people with disabilities and special needs according to their capacities, and one of the concepts that emerged at the end of the twentieth century, for address the accessibility that emerged in the previous decade to find its clear applications in architecture is the comprehensive design.In order to determine the research problem (the absence of organized and clear knowledge about the design mechanisms that can be adopted to achieve inclusiveness in architecture in general and the university campus in particular) and thus formulate the research objective (utilizing the principles of comprehensive design to determine the most effective design mechanisms to achieve comprehensive design architecture in general and in the university campus as a case study in particular).