Kids on the Fly, O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL Images: Architecture Is Fun.
Kids on the Fly, a family play and learning experience created for O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, inspired us to see disability as a unique attribute and powerful design informant. To enable access and offer play parity, visitors of all ages and abilities are permitted the freedom to control their experience. For instance, the most interesting way to enter the iconic cargo plane is via the colorful, activity-filled incline. Instead of treating the ramp in a subordinate architectural manner or having two separate entry points, the incline is celebrated. It’s bright, inviting, and is crawlable, climbable, and slidable. It is fun for everyone to enter the raised cockpit, pilot the plane, listen to real recordings of air traffic control, and have a great view of real take-offs and landings.
Instead of treating the ramp in a subordinate architectural manner or having two separate entry points, the incline is celebrated.
Continuing to advocate for accessibility through thoughtful and creative design reinforces a civil right. Focusing not on the differences of those with disabilities but on their talents and their abilities amplifies experiences and the dignity of places and spaces. Architects and designers can dramatically improve a child’s and an adult’s experience by going beyond the stipulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Designing from an adaptive-ready stance help push architects beyond ADA and, perhaps, even beyond Universal Design tenets.
Kids on the Fly, O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 31, states: “That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.”
Architects and designers can dramatically improve a child’s and an adult’s experience by going beyond the stipulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
This international treaty incorporates thinking about children as citizens and about their healthy development.
When designing for inclusivity, there’s a challenge that spaces and environments fit everyone and that all play together. Any adaptive equipment can be designed to be as appealing and inviting as all other elements.
At DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville, Illinois, where Architecture is Fun embraced this thinking in the design phase, there’s a beloved indoor hill for climbing, running, and laying around. The undulating hill is interconnected, side-by-side, to a gentler and hyper-accessible hill, which allows kids of all abilities to play on the same indoor landscape. Inclusivity in design helps create an atmosphere of success, where every child can interact with another, explore, imagine, and play together.
DuPage Children's Museum, Naperville, IL
Design that goes beyond access also helps create experiences that foster emotional well-being. Facilitating safe places where kids can be kids is vital in every community. And the hill at DuPage Children’s Museum is one instance of a side-by-side, integrated, inclusive environment and experience that creates a safe and equitable place to play.
These two examples of access, Kids on the Fly and DuPage Children's Museum, go beyond the ramp and illustrate how design can advocate for us all. Inclusivity benefits entire communities because, through design, we can recognize, value, and celebrate one another.
