Assignment 5 brings together the semester’s research, stakeholder engagement, accessibility studies, field visits, Design Atlas, and prototype development into a resolved disability-forward architectural proposal.

Students were asked to demonstrate how architecture can move beyond minimum accessibility requirements to support dignity, autonomy, independence, sensory comfort, participation, and belonging in everyday life.

Suburban Track — Supportive Home

Students developed a repeatable prototype for JSDD that could adapt to different suburban sites and support residents with a range of needs, including aging in place.

Projects explored a kit of parts and ideal prototype, tested its adaptability on two sites, and developed one site in greater architectural detail. Designs considered the relationship between the home, landscape, neighborhood, residents, caregivers, and opportunities for both privacy and community.

Urban Track — Inclusive Community

Students developed proposals for an inclusive urban community in Manhattan in collaboration with CHInyc.

Projects explored how housing could be integrated with shared spaces, circulation, amenities, and community infrastructure that encourage interaction and belonging among residents of different abilities. Particular attention was given to the spaces between and beyond individual apartments—asking how architecture itself can help create community.

Final Goal

Rather than designing for an abstract “accessible user,” students were challenged to draw upon the real people, experiences, and research encountered throughout the semester and translate those lessons into architectural decisions.

The final projects represent each student’s response to a central question of the studio:

How can architecture help create places where people of different abilities can live with greater choice, independence, dignity, and belonging?