Architecture’s Disability Problem by Wanda Katja Liebermann

Architecture’s Disability Problem by Wanda Katja Liebermann

Architecture’s Disability Problem explores the intersection of architecture and disability in the United States from the perspective of professional practice. This book uncovers why, despite the profound effect of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the architectural profession, there has been so little interest in design for disability in mainstream architecture. To counter this, the book investigates alternative approaches to designing with disability, through three case studies. These showcase both buildings and how design processes driven by disabled people shape design and professional roles.

Combining historical research, formal and discourse analysis, and interviews with people who design, construct, use buildings, and advocate for access, the book develops a social understanding of how the buildings work at functional, affective, and symbolic levels. Architecture’s Disability Problem is aimed at three primary readers: practicing architects, architectural scholars, and members of disability scholar-activist communities. Grounded in detailed design studies, the author hopes to unearth the social meaning-making of architecture related to disability. Ultimately, the book makes an argument for a focus on disability in its own right—as well as on the body—in place of the dominance of formal, object-oriented approaches.

This book presents and argues for a fundamental shift in the way architectural education, policy, and practice views and engages with disability. It will be key reading for students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.

Wanda Katja Liebermann is an architectural and urban historian, licensed architect, and assistant professor in the Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. Liebermann merges perspectives from a 15-year career as a practicing architect and transdisciplinary theories from architectural history, disability and feminist studies, and science and technology studies. Her research focuses on theories and practices of architecture and urbanism in relationship to disability rights and racial justice movements in the United States. In particular, she examines the recursive dynamics between concepts of identity, inclusion, biopolitics, human-technology relations, and designed environments. Liebermann’s writing has appeared in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Future Anterior, the Journal of Architecture, the Journal of Design History, and several edited anthologies. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, a UC Berkeley Arcus Endowment, the Arnold J. Brunner Grant, and a Graham Foundation Grant. Liebermann received a Doctor of Design from Harvard University and a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from UC Berkeley.