Kavita Murugkar has developed a curriculum for budding architects to design and create a more differently-abled friendly country.

In the lieu of the Accessible India campaign, professor Kavita Murugkar of Dr Bhanuben Nanavati College Of Architecture (BNCA), has developed a curriculum for budding architects to design and create a more differently-abled friendly country. Speaking with Hindustan Times, Murugkar explains the nuances of accessibility, especially in educational institutes.

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What is inclusive architecture? 

Inclusive architecture is a paradigm shift from the conventional design approach which generally satisfies the need of only the able-bodied, leaving behind many sections of the society such as PWDs, elderly, pregnant women, temporary impaired, children etc. Inclusive architecture addresses and incorporates needs of all and refers to broad-spectrum ideas - called universal design, meant to produce buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible to older people, PWDs, and people with disabilities. Students are poorly sensitised and largely unaware of the technical know-how as the curriculum does not incorporate this parameter in depth and detail. 

What are the highlights of BNCA's universal design research and training centre? 

The centre is focused towards integrating ‘socially inclusive design education’ and practise that to address the needs of all sections of society ranging from children to elderly, able-bodied to the people with disabilities, literate to illiterate, the economically affluent to the economically weak people. As key highlights, we have organised state and national-level seminars and workshops on universal design to build awareness and competency in the professional and student community, conducted access audits for important public buildings and public spaces in Pune, and are conducting research and guiding B Arch students to create inclusive architectural designs. Also, we are associated with PMC to make Pune more accessible. 

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