The Bevica Foundation has granted DKK 4.9 million to the project, ‘Universal Design and Accessibility for Everyone: Architecture, Cities and Spaces’. The focus of the project is how to make the built environment more accessible for people with mobility challenges: e.g. the elderly and people with motor disabilities.
Inclusion and accessibility should be an inherent quality
As we know, architects and designers have a huge impact on how cities and spaces are designed and fitted out. That means it is essential for architecture and design students, in the course of their studies, to gain a fundamental knowledge of inclusion and accessibility.
The ability to translate this knowledge into practical architectural solutions should be a natural part of the professionalism mastered by future architects and designers during their education at KADK. If architects and designers are more knowledgeable about what it means to experience buildings and spaces as a person with movement disabilities, it may help to change ingrained habits of thinking about cities and spaces, thus developing the profession as a whole. The goal is for accessibility not to be a special consideration, but a completely natural, integral part of new architecture, in which various functional requirements are embedded in excellent holistic solutions.
Collaboration with social relevance
KADK are very excited about the collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. “I’m incredibly proud of the wonderful grant from the Bevica Foundation,” says Peter Thule Kristensen, Head of Subject in the School of Architecture. “It’s the start of a business partnership with a highly relevant focus. How, as architects and designers, we can help to improve conditions for people with physical challenges, and how an increased understanding of people with special needs can help to develop architecture for the benefit of society as a whole. Marianne Kofoed, CEO of the Bevica Group, is also looking forward to the collaboration: “We look forward to positive and fruitful cooperation in this area, in which people with physical disabilities will benefit from the research. Together, we can break away from entrenched notions and habits in the area of accessibility.” The money from the Bevica Foundation will partially finance a post-doctorate and subsequent associate professorship, Commercial PhDs and guest professors within the area of ‘Universal Design and Accessibility’. It is an area, in which the need for new and well-founded knowledge is huge: especially among the people who make decisions about buildings.
About the Bevica Foundation
Bevica is a commercial foundation. Bevica stands for ‘BEvægelse’ [Movement], ‘VIden’ [Knowledge] and ‘CAre’ [Care]. The mission of the Bevica Foundation is to provide people with mobility disabilities with the greatest possible autonomy and independence.