Implementação de Acessibilidade Universal ao edificado da Universidade do Porto. Polo III: O caso da FAUP

Abstract

People with some difference or physical condition tend to experience social discrimination, deprivation of their civic rights and psychological aggression, consequences of their exposure to numerous physical and attitudinal barriers. To recognize the importance and the strategies that architects must adopt to guarantee better access and enjoyment conditions of cities and buildings is in fact a necessity and a responsibility in the exercise of the profession's mission, a contribution to the construction of a more just, balanced and sustainable society. In the first part of this work, we intend to approach the evolution of accessibility over the years, from World War II to the present. It also addresses the worrying population aging, as well as the existence of a high rate of young people with specific needs, making it necessary to debate the awareness of creating more balanced and equitable public spaces, in order to make them stimulators and promoters of independence for all people, regardless of motor or sensory conditions. Still in the first half of this work, we refer the importance of architectural heritage in the evolution of society and in the contribution to the development of the first accessibility models, highlighting the work developed by leading architects, such as: Vitrúvio, Le Corbusier, Ernst Neufert, among others. The second part of this investigation consists of capturing important data and information for the understanding of Accessibility in Europe and Portugal and of the evolution of the legislation that protects the rights of people with disabilities, which is the basis for the approval of the most recent law, currently in force. It also gathers essential information for the analysis of accessibility and mobility in the access to university education, with a specific focus on the building stock of the University of Porto, namely on the premises of the Faculty of Architecture. The main objective of this study is the identification, inventory and proposal to mitigate the architectural barriers present in the study subject, in order to provide reasonable accessibility to its users, from students and researchers to visitors. The research is also carried out with its own on-site investigation, using photographic reporting as one of the main methods for the inventory of barriers, resulting in their identification and mitigation, as well as the applicability of accessible routes and viability schemes for its implementation.