Wisconsin university redesigns with accessibility in mind

From The Royal Purple student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater:

Universal design, the idea of providing equal access for everyone, is at the heart of new campus construction.

"The concept of universal design is the least amount of effort for the maximum number of people to utilize," said Elizabeth Watson, chair of the universal design committee on campus. "And the rule of thumb is that 95 percent of the general population should be able to use the space, the facility, the product or the policy without an accommodation."

Watson, who also is the director for the Center for Students with Disabilities, said UW-Whitewater made a commitment to apply universal design to every project, including the new college of business and economics building.

"In front of the library, where they're paving now and putting in all new sidewalks, you'll notice there are no stairs, with the exception of Hyer, which will still have stairs because the building is raised so high," she said. "The new COBE building … has no stairs to enter the building. The UC has no stairs to enter, except for one flight. That's part of universal design. In other words, everybody can use every entrance whenever they want to."

Before UW-Whitewater begins any new project, it is reviewed to make sure it is as accessible as possible and goes above and beyond the minimum standards, Watson said.

"A great example of that is the new residence hall," she said. "The Americans with Disabilities Act requires 5 percent of rooms be accessible to students. We're going with 10 percent of the rooms … and all rooms being visitor-friendly to students in wheelchairs."

Jeff Janz, interim dean of Student Life, said because the university has a special mission to students with disabilities, one of the goals was to make it extremely accessible.Janz said other than needing more square footage to accommodate students with disabilities, building the five-story residence hall is not substantially more costly.

"Naturally we always have to be watchful of budget and practical considerations," he said. "Square footage is usually one of the issues when you are looking at universal design. We couldn't make every single room accessible all the time for everyone or we couldn't afford to build anything."

In addition to more accessibility, Watson said the new residence hall will be equipped to help students with low vision or vision impairment, including having high- and low-contrast carpeting.

"So when you walk down the hallway, the carpet's not the same," Watson said. "So someone with low vision can distinguish a doorway versus hallway."

Watson said different floor textures also will be used so visually-impaired students can distinguish where they are in the building.

Of the 109 suites, 19 will be able to accommodate students with disabilities."For the first time, two students in [wheel]chairs will be able to room together in a single suite, and the bathrooms will be equipped with roll-in showers and other accommodations," he said.

The project is expected to be complete in 2010.