Beyond disability: towards an enabling society: a sport and recreation centre for the social integration between the majorities and minorities

Abstract

This dissertation is not only about the production of a building: it is rather a progressive report, which documents the process and development of my personal manifesto of the inter-relationships between: the social and physical effects of sport activities and people with disabilities, in public open spaces in the city. It aims to serve as an instrument to demonstrate the insight of my experiences, from taking a contemporary social issue (segregation of disabled people from the main society) and urban issues (lack of interests and abandonments of public park spaces in our city) into architectural theories. The research did not begin from a particular point towards a specific building type or programme; instead, I located the base of the research by reinterpreting a personal experience and looking into a specific social/contextual condition. It begins with an assessment of people with disabilities and the built environments in the form of interviews, surveys and academic research. The aim of this exercise is to provide first hand contact with disabled peoples’ needs and priorities. Then the theoretical research which revolves around the notion of public safety in the park - one of the major reasons which decrease the willingness of the public to use it. Together with the findings derived from site analysis and precedent studies, I will then consolidate the arguments by developing an experimental architectural prototype which directly aims to substantiate the theory, and the building structure itself will be the projector that materializes the programme into real context and thus gives justification to my manifesto.