Project Accomplishments

Project Kickoff

The Design Leadership curriculum development initiative was launched on Thursday, October 8 at the 2009 National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) in St. Louis.  A 90-minute conference workshop entitled “Increasing Access to Universal Design to Meet the Needs of America’s Black Communities,”   described:

• How Universal Design addresses the needs of communities of color
• Why universal/inclusive design is important in architectural education and practice
• Examples of design applications and their impact on health, mobility, and community welfare
• How this NEA-funded “Bridging the Gap Project” with HBCU Schools of Architecture will benefit architectural education and the wider UD community.

All faculty, administrators, and students from HBCU Schools of Architecture were invited to the workshop, and had the opportunity to interact with presenters to understand how the project will work and how it can benefit their schools and their specific teaching activities.

Download the podcast of Beth Tauke’s presentation “Universal Design = Good Design for Everyone”. 

First Project Task Force Meeting

Bradford Grant, Howard University’s Interim Dean of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences and Director of the School of Architecture and Design, hosted the project’s first Task Force meeting in Washington, D.C. on November 21, 2009.  The group discussed their shared vision for Universal Design in architectural curricula and developed a working strategy and a planning matrix for the project.  The most exciting outcome was that NCA&T wants to develop their entire new architectural curriculum around UD, and invited the committee to hold its next meeting there.

Second Task Force Meeting

Dr. Tony Graham, Associate Professor of the School of Technology at North Carolina A&T hosted the Task Force’s second meeting at the NCA&T campus in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 26-27, 2010.  The meeting had a number of purposes:

1. To provide NCA&T support and information as it develops the first architectural curriculum in the United States based on Universal Design;
2. To hear a series of preliminary presentations on UD and community service initiatives at other HBCUs;
3. To provide consultation to all participating schools on creative ways to include Universal Design more proactively in their curriculum;
4. To discuss the needs of students in developing UD curricula;
5. To strategize development of a UD network that includes a wider group of schools and organizations;
6. To determine how initiatives begun during the project can be extended into the future.

Five of the eight HBCUs with architecture schools sent representatives, and the meeting also included a representative from the AIA, one practicing professional, and two student committee members.

Download a copy Project Task Force Meeting Minutes

UD in NOMA 2010 Student Design Competition

Project Task Force member Lakeisha Henderson, principal of Baltimore’s Design Collaborative Group, worked closely with the NOMA student design competition committee so Universal Design is a major feature of project competition entries in the 2010 student competition.  The students’ competition entries will be presented at NOMA’s 2010 meeting, Reinvent, Rebuild, Reconnect:  Innovation CanHappen Through Turbulent Times, on October 7 to 9 in Boston, Massachusetts. 

NOMA 2010 Workshop Plans

The Project will sponsor a session at the NOMA conference and will continue to collaborate with NOMA on a display and publication of student work. 

Student Work

If you are a student or professor of students with exemplary Universal Design work, please let us know so we can include it in a planned publication which will be produced after the NOMA conference.  Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at the IDeA Center.