Accessible and inclusive spaces for study : A contest design for Politecnico di Torino

The meaning of inclusion has had many changes throughout human history depending on the period and the events that are taking place on it, this word had a different impact in society. Nowadays inclusion is more than a word or a meaning, it is well known as a concept that influences the way people live and interact in many ways. Inclusion can be considered in many aspects of human life in which they are involved with, such as, architecture, technology, education or gender. This concept has permeated the way in which people live, it is no longer a condition for people that have a disability but is a condition that engages every human being just because we are all living in the same plane. With this in mind the following question led to the research of this thesis: Is inclusion the same as integration? The book "Progettare per tutti '' by Maria Cristina Azzolino and Angela Lacirignola, was a source to solve this query. Integration is responsible for proposing a space or place apart for disable people, making sure that this place works and exists. On the other hand, inclusion has to guarantee that both people disable and without any disability can integrate and share the same space. Following this concept, the objective of this thesis is to combine education, inclusion and architecture, by giving the guidelines in order to design and propose future inclusive study spaces.The final result will be the parameters (as if it was a contest) that a designer has to follow in order to participate or propose a study space. For doing this, the chosen population is the Politecnico di Torino students, in which there are architecture and engineering students.The first chapter will give a general overview of accessibility and inclusion definition, how these two concepts relate and define the indoor and outdoor study spaces that can be found around the world. Ending this chapter the concept of universal design will appear. This concept is involved with inclusion, focusing on the design of physical spaces principally in educational spaces suggesting some aspects to consider in order to continue with some good examples of architecture who practice this concept. The second chapter is dedicated to exposing some references/projects that serve as inspiration for the final product of this thesis. The cases of study are not necessarily educational buildings but also co-working or office buildings because they present similar conditions as the educational ones. Successively, the third chapter is focused on the actual condition of the Politecnico di Torino campus and the present student necessities. Here will be presented if the university campus is equipped with the necessary facilities to guarantee every single student an inclusive study space. It will present a photographic record showing the state of art just to expose and compare if the students' necessities are fulfilled with the actual installations regarding endowment, accessibility, light, comfort, etc. Finally, chapter four, the last one, will announce the final result of the whole research. Following the previous steps where inclusion was related with architecture, then some study cases that pursue a good solution for inclusive design and ending with what the Politecnico di Torino installations had versus the students' necessities, a guideline of design is the conclusion of this work. This guideline will consider every step above, giving the parameters of how an inclusive study space should be.