The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1 - 165

Implementing Universal Design

of universal design and gathering stakeholder
feedback during the pre-design phase. This
was a new element for UW-Whitewater that
went beyond looking at standard design and
planning. For this portion of planning, two
full days were dedicated to focus on the philosophy and application of UD principles.
Elizabeth Watson, director for the Center for
Students with Disabilities, facilitated the planning sessions dedicated to UD for the design
group. In collaboration with staff and students
from the center, Watson covered topics such
as legislation, UD definitions and principles,
and application of UD to UW-Whitewater
and this project. The design group reviewed
current best practices for remodeling and
upgrading current residential life facilities
to meet UW-Whitewater UD standards. The
design group identified UD solutions to be
integrated into the new residence hall design,
such as enhanced accessible bathrooms for
students needing personal care, inclusion of
orientation materials like grooves on the walls
for guides and transitional floor materials for
students with visual impairments, computer
labs and small work rooms respecting multiple styles of learning, and consistent layouts of
living spaces. The two-day workshop allowed
the design team to throw away preconceived
notions of access and to think creatively.
To broaden the learning, a focus group
of students with disabilities, including those
related to mobility, health, learning, cognition,
vision, hearing, and mental health, provided
feedback and ideas about the project. This feedback was critical in moving design and access
issues forward. From the two-day workshop
and student focus groups, a list of targeted
design features—a wish list—was identified to

address areas of particular concern, including
visual issues, physical access, environment,
and complex living needs. The full list of ideas
is presented in Table 3. As with any process,
the team had to decide which of the UD items
would be included in the final design, which
led to a prioritization process.

Prioritizing Goals
In the planning and prioritization process, the
design group identified issues of importance
that had to be balanced with the project budget.
Dick Carlson, an architect with the Cannon
Design team that designed the UW-Whitewater residence hall, said that this project “creates
a challenge of how we can do this in an economical way and stay true to our goals of accessibility” (Kennedy, 2008, p. 16). However,
a decision to not initially allow the budget to
limit design was made, which created the opportunity to push the design first and focus on
cost second. As a result, the UW-Whitewater
design group took more than 20 versions
of the planned residence hall to the drawing
board before settling on the details (Sturgeon,
2009) based on the information gathered in
phase 1 (pre-design).

To broaden the learning, a focus
group of students with disabilities,
including those related to mobility,
health, learning, cognition, vision,
hearing, and mental health,
provided feedback and ideas
about the project.
V o l u m e 4 0 , No. 1 • 2 0 1 3

165

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1