Inclusive Schools: Building Accessible Learning Environments

Presented by Fátima Olivieri-Martínez, Daisy Houang, Alexandra Barker, and Dan Roller

This webinar is part of the ADA Academy

This webinar will look at inclusive design solutions for accessible campuses and classrooms, and will feature architecture and design strategies that go beyond legal requirements to ensure an optimized learning environment for students of all abilities. The presentations will illustrate the role architects have in the important work of allowing students (and teachers) to thrive within a comfortable, safe, and supportive space. The course will discuss the concept of universal design, which allows both able and non-able persons to have comparable experiences within a building. Some of the topic areas that may be covered within the framework of accessibility are equal access within classrooms, ADA-compliant door and wall configurations, architectural signage, window treatments, washroom systems, privacy systems, and elevator interiors.

Fátima Olivieri-Martínez, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal from KieranTImberlake, together with Daisy Houang, AIA, Senior Associate and Project Architect from Davis Brody Bond, will present the firms’ joint project, the recently opened John A. Paulson Center at New York University (NYU), which is a 735,000 sf project spanning a city block in Greenwich Village. Designed to optimize interactions between diverse student groups and academic disciplines, the building includes classrooms, informal study spaces, performing arts theaters, rehearsal and practice rooms, varsity sports facilities, a recreational gymnasium, and a café, as well as faculty and first-year student housing. The KieranTimberlake and Davis Brody Bond team worked alongside the client, stakeholders, and consultants to integrate accessible environments for living, teaching, and learning that expand beyond code requirements. This presentation will highlight overall design strategies as well a case study of the unique accessibility aspects for the Performing Arts program within the building.

Additionally, Alexandra Barker, FAIA, of Barker Associates Architecture Office, will be presenting City Kids Education Center, an award-winning preschool and after-school interior renovation located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The presentation will focus on accessible design strategies for an early childhood education center that is also an adaptive reuse of an existing warehouse.

Finally, we have Dan Roller, Product Manager for Inpro, who will provide insights into available products and ADA compliance strategies that can be incorporated into educational spaces.

There will be a brief Q&A session at the end of the presentations.

	Fátima Olivieri-Martínez, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal, KieranTimberlake integrates design thinking with meticulous attention to craft, culture, and context. In nearly a decade at KieranTimberlake, she has been involved with a variety of projects including the award-winning renovation of Harvard University’s historic River Houses and the Paulson Center at NYU. She has been an influential mentor to new hires in the firm and as an educator at Temple University and elsewhere. Fatima helped formalize KTCI, the firm’s community involvement group that offers pro bono design services. She also spearheaded a collaboration to create a graduate-level design studio focused on designing a visionary school in her native Puerto Rico to build resiliency following Hurricane Maria. Fatima received the 2019 Young Architect Award from AIA Philadelphia for her remarkable contributions in leadership, practice, and service.
	Daisy Houang, Senior Associate, Davis Brody Bond has worked on projects of a variety of scales and cultures in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Her experience has given her insight into cultural methodologies and global design and construction practices that influence her work, most recently on the new US Embassy Compound in Mexico City and the Paulson Center at NYU. Daisy is actively involved in the firm’s partnership with the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures at City College, a partnership which explores solutions to spatial justice issues. She leads the firm’s Design Dialogues Committee and regularly engages the staff, visiting professionals, and scholars on a wide range of issues, from sustainable design to design history and the role of architecture and urban design in social and racial justice.
	Barker Associates Architecture Office is an award-winning practice based in New York with a focus on exploring spatial and material approaches that adapt to the evolving relationships between inhabitants and the built environment. Led by Alexandra Barker, FAIA, LEED AP, BAAO has worked in the public and private sector on a range of projects that include educational and retail projects, ground-up private residences and interiors, in the New York area, regionally, and internationally.
	Dan Roller is a Product Manager for Inpro. Inpro is an industry leader in interior and exterior architectural products. In his 19 years with Inpro, Dan has worked with contractors, architects, designers, and facilities to develop standard and custom projects for facilities across many different industries with careful consideration for the Americans with Disabilities Act.