From Commodity to Functionality: What Vitruvius Didn't Tell Us About Accessibility

Send us Fan Mail Continuing the exploration of Vitruvius's Venustas, Firmitas, Utilitas, host Naziaty turns to Utilitas — usually translated as function or commodity — and asks what it really means in the 21st century. Drawing on a RIBA article, Accessible Architecture: How Today's Inclusive Spaces Can Help Solve 200 Years of Accessible Design Challenges, we trace the long, uneven history of disability in the built environment, from Victorian asylums and Gordon Cullen's 1931 awareness work, t...