Accessibility of Built Environment

Welcome to DesignBridge Foundation – a non profit organisation working in the realm of built environment accessibility, based in Pune, Maharashtra State, India.

Creating built environments and facilities that are accessible and user-friendly equally to all, with safety and with dignity, is a right protected by law in India, guaranteed by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 ( RPWD Act 2016 ). It is an indispensable pre-requisite for social inclusion, focusing on equal opportunity and diversity. The RPWD Act 2016 brings under its ambit ALL establishments -in Public as well as Private Sector, which employ more than 20 people.

Accessibility to the built environment affects a large number of people within society in their day-to-day normal life, concerning their safety and physical, mental and social well being. Even a single step can deny entry to a person pulling a suitcase on wheels, or a person using a wheelchair or even pose a safety hazard to anyone with impaired vision.

Built Environments that do not comply with safety and accessibility standards, especially toilets and wash areas, ramps, steps and doorways, are often safety hazards posing unwanted risks to precious human lives, especially to increasing huge sectors of populations concerning the elderly, pregnant mothers, those with numerous debilitating conditions, those carrying small children and heavy luggage and also to people with disabilities.

There is a huge gap in the implementation of the RPWD Act 2016 in its spirit in all areas envisaged in the act, and Accessibility of built environment is no exception. It is precisely this gap that Designbridge Foundation aims to fill, through its committed and focused efforts towards ensuring a barrier free built environment for ALL.

Accessibility Awareness Outreach – 2020-21

We firmly believe that the biggest barrier for accessibility is the barrier of the mindset.

To address this issue, Designbridge Foundation has embarked upon a voluntary initiative to reach out to key decision makers in various sectors such as Housing, Banking, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Workplaces and Hospitality. Designbridge Foundation is offering an OBLIGATION FREE ONLINE ACCESSIBILITY AWARENESS SESSION for Architectural firms ,Facility Management firms. Project Management consultancies wishing to train and sensitise thier design teams on built environment accessibility issues. Please send a mail to designbridgepune@gmail.com expressing your interest and our training team shall coordinate the Free Session for your office.

Reimagining Streets of Pune

Designbridge team mentored  a young team of architectural interns and design students, who submitted an entry for Reimagining Streets of Pune , organised by the Pune Smart City Dev. Corp. Ltd ( PSCDCL ). A total of 56 design entries were submitted by prestigious architectural and urban design firms , and Designbridge entry was shortlisted among the top 10 for a final presentation.

Our solution revolved around one core concept – The streets of our Smart City have to be designed for ALL keeping  inclusivity as a core design parameter. Few images of the design proposal are displayed below.