Public Knowledge of the Architectural and Interior Design Space Requirements of Persons with Disabilities.

Abstract

It is most frustrating for people with disabilities to find architectural and designed spaces in building facilities supposedly created for the public prohibit their full; participation in normal situation of life. The aim of this study is determine how much knowledge public have of the architectural and interior design Space requirement of persons with disabilities. The study also provides some information regarding the issues of persons with disabilities in public facilities. The instrument of study includes review of some basic literatures on the area of study and questionnaires which was distributed to, students of architecture in three randomly selected universities in Nigeria. The data collected were examined based on the Chi-square goodness-of-fit test at 0.05 (5%) level of significance. The degree of freedom for this study is an integer based on distribution valued parameter. From; the analysis of the sampled data using the Chi-square goodness-of-fil test, it be concluded that: current architectural and interior design spaces in our built environment do not allow adequate access for people with physical disabilities. Also, even with the drive towards universal and barrier-free designs that will be accessible for all, the public still do not have the knowledge of the architectural and interior design needs of the disabled persons. There is therefore a need include in the curriculum of architectural studies principles of universal design that will provide far the requirements of persons with disabilities.