Making Truly Accessible Spaces

Photo of intervention of colourful installations added to railings around a pond and chalk writing onto the stone floor with text such as ‘access now’, nothing about us, without us’ - part of Making Truly Accessible Spaces by DisOrdinaryArchitecture

TYPE: Intervention

YEAR: 2023

LOCATION: London

Supported by Arts Council England (ACE) funding, this project in Postman’s Park, London, centred around the creativity of disabled artists in enabling truly accessible practices for public venues and events. Building on from ‘Seats at the Table’ - the winning project of the ‘Co-Creating Equity in the Public Realm’ competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture - this project worked to expand knowledge around how you can provide good accessibility to artists and audiences and increased accessibility to the site of the Seats at the Table intervention itself, through a series of additional design interventions.

Following a series of participatory workshops, that had explored the accessibility of the site, four new interventions were created by disabled artists and architects, in addition to the Seats at the Table installation. In each case, the interventions also enabled experiential and discursive workshops for members of the public to share their experiences of living in an inaccessible world. These included workshops around sustainability with ReFabricate, an in conversation with David Gissen and Jordan Whitewood-Neal and James Zatka-Haas of Dis Collective, and launch party for the project.

The four interventions were:

  • Sensory Landscapes by Zoe Partington and Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq: The creation of a sensory landscape around the fountain at one end of the part, both to highlight its elements and to act as a orientation ‘turnaround’ point, to avoid the inaccessible exit at this end of the park.

  • Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice adaptations by Mandy Redvers-Rowe and Poppy Levison: Making the existing Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice more accessible through simple adaptations – an audio-description and BSL interpretation, available through a QR code, and a small ramp on and off the memorial platform.

  • Access Information by Jordan Whitewood-Neal and James Zatka-Haas with Rosie Scott and Giuseppe Ferrigno from Re-Fabricate: Access information created both online in advance, and through signage across the site which aimed both to inform and provoke discussion.

  • Resting Conversations by Raquel Meseguer Zafe and Helen Stratford: An intervention called ‘resting conversations’ that hosted quotes from people living with invisible disabilities & chronic illnesses, alongside gentle instructions that invite people to pause, rest & lie down.

You can find out more each of the elements by watching or listening a to the videos below.

Videos

You can find the transcript for Inevitable imperfections video here.

You can find the transcript for the Access Information video here.

You can find the transcript for Memorial adaptations video here.

You can find the transcript for Memorial Audio Descriptions here.

You can find the transcript for Resting Conversations video here.

‘Making Truly Accessible Spaces’ built on the high-profile opportunity for disabled artists to lead on modelling best creative practice for site and event access and inclusion with Seats at the Table. By creating additional activities and design interventions out of lessons learnt from the built project, these interventions enabled further disabled artists to engage directly with, and aim to effectively influence, built environment and cultural sector professionals; both at the Festival and beyond. Following on from these interventions, DisOrdinary Architecture created ‘Many More Parts than M!’ - a prototype compendium which explore how to engage with built environment accessibility in ways that take us beyond conventional checklists, templates, design guidance and legal regulations.

Find out more about Seats at the Table here.

Find out about Many more parts than M! here.

Gallery

Photo of someone crouching down in small park, engaging with a colourful artistic intervention - part of Making Truly Accessible Spaces by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.
Photo of two people sat down engaging in conversation outside, whilst making a colourful sculpture with their hands.
Photo of two people resting on a colourful intervention of beanbags and fabric coverings held up by poles in a park - Part of Making Truly Accessible Spaces by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.
Photo of a temporary ramp added to an outside step - Part of Making Truly Accessible Spaces by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.
Photo of artistic intervention involving colourful installations added to metal railings around a pond and chalk writing onto the stone floor with text such as ‘access now’, nothing about us, without us’ - part of Making Truly Accessible Spaces by T
Photo of a the stone floor outside, with text sprayed onto the floor, reading ‘Close your eyes and listen’
Photo of a piece of bright orange material hung in the sky, with the words ‘If I don’t rest in public, my world gets very very small - Raquel’ printed on the fabric in black - Part of Making Truly Accessible Spaces by The DisOrdinary Architecture Pro
Photo of some pink signage with white writing, pointing to the Seats at the Table project, and hanging on some black railing at the entrance to the park.
Photo of a panel discussion happening at the Seats at the Table intervention at Postman’s Park in London- with lots of people sat in different chairs or wheelchairs around a table.
Photo of two white cane users navigating an outdoor step in Postman’s Park, London
Photo of people engaging in a workshop, sat around a long table, covered in art supplies
Photo of a pink sign for the Seats at the Table project, with the text ‘ How can a city be more comfortable for all bodies and minds?’

Related Projects

Photo of a group of people sitting around a series of table and chairs in Postman Park in London, as part of the Seats at the Table project for LFA2023.
Photo of a group of people sat in a lecture setting, listening to Jos from The DisOrdinary Architecture Project presenting ‘Many More Parts than M’, as seen on the screen behind her.

Useful Links

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Many More Parts than M! (2023-4)
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Seats at the Table (2023)