Are there any unifying principles that can be applied to a whole range of disabilities and conditions?
“Yes. While needs vary widely, several principles are consistently raised as important considerations in research:
- Clarity: intuitive layouts, predictable transitions, clear sightlines;
- Consistency: reduced cognitive load through logical organisation and stable spatial cues;
- Choice and control: adjustable lighting, acoustics, workstation types, and room configurations;
- Sensory awareness: careful management of acoustics, glare, temperature, and visual complexity;
- Pacing and refuge: micro-break spaces, quiet rooms, and calm zones for regulation;
- Co-design with lived experience: embedding authenticity and accountability;
- Flexibility and adaptability: environments that evolve with users’ fluctuating needs.
What role does flexibility in space design play for people with fluctuating conditions?
“For many people, disabilities and sensory thresholds are dynamic – fluctuating by the hour, day, or season (including fluctuations such as menstrual cycle and menopause). Flexibility enables people to manage these changes without disclosure, negotiation, or stigma. Examples include:
- adjustable lighting, acoustics, and temperature;
- varied seating and workstation typologies;
- breakout areas and quiet rooms;
- circulation routes that support both direct and slower-paced movement.
Flexibility allows the environment to adapt to the person – not the other way around.
How can guidance like RIBA’s Inclusive Design Overlay and Many More Parts Than M help?
“Many More Parts Than M! is a brilliant and necessary reframing of inclusive design, created by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project. It moves beyond checklists and compliance to explore how lived experience can meaningfully shape environments. It challenges the assumption that one-size-fits-all guidance can address complex human diversity and emphasises nuance, context, and co-production.”
“This year, in collaboration with The DisOrdinary Architecture Project, Foster and Partners has been undertaking research to develop our approach to inclusive design. This work has been about listening and learning from lived experiences to cultivate a deeper understanding of how architecture can enable dignity, agency, and inclusion – to create more welcoming environments for everyone.”
“So far, this work has help to highlight the complex variables for inclusion, supporting architects to make informed choices about values and priorities based on a greater awareness of the human experience.”
“RIBA’s Inclusive Design Overlay (IDO) provides a framework for embedding inclusion at every stage of design. It reinforces early engagement, clarity of process, and the importance of inclusive-design consultants and champions.
However, guidance alone is not enough. True inclusion requires:
- co-production;
- lived-experience engagement;
- culturally supported disclosure;
- intersectional awareness;
- integration of sensory and cognitive design principles;
- shifting design education and professional culture.
“Together, the IDO and Many More Parts Than M! support a more holistic, human-centred approach – however more work needs to be done to integrate this knowledge into the architectural education system and the architectural profession as a whole.”
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