4 September 2012

Award to provide greater understanding of links between architecture and accessibility

A researcher from the University of Dundee has received a prestigious £10,000 award that will allow her to examine how architecture can enhance the lives of disabled people.

Dr Lesley McIntyre, a postdoctoral researcher within the Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy (SiDE) research group at the University's School of Computing, has been awarded a 2012 RIBA Research Trust Award by the Royal Institute for British Architects.

The aim of the RIBA Research Trust Award is to support independent architectural research relevant to the advancement of architecture and the connected arts and science.

This independent fund will enable Dr McIntyre to undertake an original research project that will provide a retrospective exploration and evaluation of Selwyn Goldsmith and his principle work, the 'Architectural Model of Disability'.

A monograph will disseminate this knowledge into the architectural and public domain, and the work will be mentored by Dr Lorens Holm, from Dundee's Geddes Institute for Urban Research.

Dr McIntyre said she was delighted to have won the award, which will allow her to reposition Goldsmith's work in ways which are relevant to practicing architects, designers and planners.

"Selwyn Goldsmith was the first architect to receive the Harding Award for services to disabled people, and he led the way in providing an understanding of disability within the context of architecture.

"However, the full extent of Goldsmith's impact has never been critically defined. The implications of his most significant contribution to architecture, the Architectural Model of Disability, have yet to be holistically assessed within the historical and theoretical context of contemporary architecture.

"The aim of this project is to help architects, designers and planners to design enabling environments, and multi-disciplinary researchers by assessing the influence of the disability movement on architecture, cities and culture."

Dr McIntyre's background is in architecture. Through identifying the enabling and disabling elements of the built environment, her current research investigates how Human Computing Interaction methodologies and digital prototypes have the potential to enable, support and enhance human-interaction, across a spectrum of needs.

Full details of the award can be found at www.architecture.com

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