Newly elected Mayor Phil Goff warmly welcomed attendees to Access All Areas: Universal Design Symposium held at the Viaduct Events Centre last week. Universal Design is the idea that people should be at the center of every project, whether it is a building, a park, a street or a neighbourhood.
Want to know more about Universal Design and it’s goals, click the following link to watch a short video: What is Universal Design?
“Good design is vital to meet the needs of all people, of all ages and abilities so that everyone can enjoy Auckland safely and easily. It is obvious that all of us actually pass through those life-stages, from birth, childhood, to our senior years and to the end of our life. We need to have a city that copes for all of us at different stages of our life and need to take into account that one in five of us have some form of disability. We need to design our buildings, parks, streets and neighbourhoods so that we cater for the needs of all of our population” – Auckland Mayor Phil Goff.
Symposium attendees were from a variety of design, architecture, design, development related disciplines and the disability community. “I found the whole event very informative and glad I attended” – Symposium attendee. The symposium showcased the diversity of universal design including public buildings and shared spaces, workplaces, housing, and transport.
Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director of the Institute of Human Centered Design in Boston delivered keynote presentations for both the Symposium and Auckland Conversations, attended by a record 550 people.You can watch this talk here. Valerie spoke about the importance of people in design and provided international case studies of great design. She stressed that Auckland could lead the way in Universal design.
Attendees also heard from key players in the Universal design field including Auckland Design Office, Be. Accessible, The Blind Foundation, Boffa Miskell, CCS Disability Action, Lifemark, Moller Architects, Office for Disability Issues, Te Roopu Waiora Trust and Dr Zena O’Connor.
Auckland Council thanks the wide variety of people who attended and helped make the Universal Design Symposium a success last week including sponsors Lifemark and Resene.
Powerpoint presentations and transcripts from the Symposium are available below…
1) Keynote speaker, Valerie Fletcher, Institute for Human Centered Design
Presentation: Inclusive Design as Consequential innovation,
Download Transcript.pdf
2) Speaker: Tania Kingi, Te Roopu Waiora Trust
Presentation available on request
Placing wellbeing back into the hands of whānau
Download Transcript.pdf
3) Speaker: Dr Zena O’Connor
Presentation available on request
Colour/Contrast strategies to improve environmental visual literacy
Download Transcript.pdf
4: Speaker:Megan Barclay, Be. Accessible
Presentation: Be in the work place
Download Transcript.pdf
5) Speaker: Geoff Penrose, Lifemark
Presentation: Joining the dots
Download Transcript.pdf
6) Speaker: Paul Dickey, Office for Disability Issues
Presentation: NZ Disability Strategy
Download Transcript.pdf
7) Speaker: Gordon Moller and Terry St George, Moller Architects
Presentation: Two waterfront projects
Download Transcript.pdf
8) Speaker: Hellen Robinson, Auckland Design Office
Presentation: Launch of the Universal Design Tool
Download Transcript.pdf
9) Panel discussion:
Carina Duke- Blind Foundation
Eric Van Essen- Auckland Transport
Vivian Naylor – CCS Disability Action
John Potter – Boffa Miskell
Presentation: Shared spaces panel discussion
Download Transcript.pdf
November 3, 2016
Auckland Design Office, Design for Auckland