A Study on the Universal Design in Elementary School Facilities

A Study on the Universal Design in Elementary School Facilities - Focused on Analysis of Design Guidelines -

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Abstract In the context of lifelong education program for an aging society and information age, elementary school facilities are expected to accommodate various people in diverse age group and diverse physical abilities. Introduction of the `Universal Design` concept seems inevitable in school environment in terms of public infra structure for community. However, in architectural point of view, unlike foreign examples, simply applied barrier-free and safety standards of domestic guidelines based on dimensional data does not function enough to achieve universal design in authentic manner. This study is focused on this issue and suggests the direction of improvement for architectural design guidelines. Through the comparative analysis of foreign and domestic design guidelines, two principles of universal design-`Flexibility in Use`, `Perceptile Information`- are found to be lacking in the domestic design guidelines for elementary school facilities. It is expected for government authority to develop more concrete guidelines to achieve universal design for school as a basic public space in the community.