Shaping environments through research and empathy

Somebody else's reality is different than ours. So we are trying to put ourselves in their shoes. They may have visual impairments, they may have hearing impairments, they may have mobility issues that may affect or create barriers. So designing with empathy is trying to address those needs and not designing for a few, but designing for all. I see myself as a design researcher. I come from this environment behavior studies perspective. So it's more on like the environmental psychology side of things. Built-in environment, we know that it has a big effect on people's well-being, their dignity, their safety, and their security. That's why it's important to actually take those factors into consideration on top of aesthetics, functionality, strong conceptual grounding. We always start every project with research, so the evidence-based design piece, so what we know, what people need. But it's also context-specific research, so we go to the site, we talk with the client, we analyze the building, we analyze the site context, but help them come up with some design solutions that is going to make the building better for the community. The spaces that we design are used by people, not by us. It's important that they develop that perspective as early as possible so that they can work with different types of communities, different types of clients. I'm trying to balance my teaching and research, but I also find ways to connect them. So this visual accessibility project is one of them. I was thinking about ways and frameworks to help my students see their design renders in 3D from the point of someone who may have visual impairment. Then they can reiterate and maybe the solution is as simple as increasing the light level or maybe they can change the materiality or they can look into the transition spaces. It is really exciting looking into right now 25 different projects and trying to discuss and find solutions. Each and every design project has unique approaches but the goal is addressing user needs and designing for all.