Emma Naylor

My initial models questioned and broke down both the standardisation of the bicycle and the body. Exploring the kinetic repetitive cycle of the bicycle expresses the continuous need for speed and productiveness in our society.  

Taking influence from Aaron Williamson’s artwork (a deaf artist who I engaged with whilst writing my dissertation about claiming Deaf space) I made two zoetropes which are used to break down the familiar, universal movement of riding a bicycle, this alienates and destabilises the everyday actions we do without thinking, making the non-disabled aware that from a disability point of view, this cycling action may be performed differently or not at all. 

I exposed the rigid and exclusive nature of the bicycle by breaking down the structure of the frame for the standard body. I then created an adjustable piece of frame to include the disabled body, which has different movements and actions. This approach could lead to a playful, adjustable, and kinetic architecture, which claims the velodrome for the disabled cyclist. 

The film shows my direct engagement with Tre, a disabled cyclist at the Wheel for Wellbeing cycling session at Herne Hill Velodrome, the continued direct engagement with the disabled community has been paramount to my work.

My initial proposals began by creating a storyline of two contrasting characters from the influence of opposite scenes, the mechanical engineer and the access consultant who were both designing two separate interventions on the site to make it fully accessible. The film questioned these different approaches. By firstly showing the background of the characters, them meeting at the site to discuss options and then their initial mechanical and spatial interventions. 

The mechanical intervention explored adjustable architecture physically through bike components, as shown through the adjustable track model, however, the model highlighted issues of overdesign. 

Whilst the spatial intervention designed digitally displayed the afterthought of the retrofit. Both schemes highlighted that disability must be thought of at the start of the design process. 

The proposal faces and breaks down the three key barriers that disabled people face; visibility, access, and funding. Rather than offering a solution, this project analyses and highlights the issues of how the building industry approaches design for disability. Looking at Herne Hill Velodrome, where inaccessibility is seen as a problem that can simply be ‘fixed’ through building regulations and guidance. It can’t.

The proposal operates within these parameters by redesigning the spaces at the five different scales listed below in the accessible building reg and anthropometric data style, prioritising physical access to form a critique, becoming a manifestation of the year's research compiled. 

Body: Bicycle, The Disabled Community and Mechanics

Room: Changing Facilities, Legislation, and Access Consultancy

Building: Clubhouse, Combining Different Aspects of Industry

Site: Velodrome, The Spatial Retrofit, and Master-Planning

City: Future Practice Strategy, Cripping Practice

I have aimed to make the drawings accessible by gaining feedback from the visually impaired cycling club. I took test drawings to the visually impaired club’s rides (where I learned to pilot a tandem). In order to make the designs accessible to the visually impaired riders, I took drawings with cut paper, also stitched paper, and finally, I embossed the plan of the building through a photoetching process.

The final scale, the City scale exposes how disability is currently only dealt with in guidance and regulations too late in the architectural design process.

The Mobility Justice Strategy and the Research Book show my proposed future practice strategy which uncovers this issue through prioritising the disabled body in confronting the three main barriers they face by ableism: visibility, access, and funding. This is achieved through prioritising the disabled body in employment and education. The new standards of accessible design are brought in earlier in the RIBA Plan of Work.

Altogether, I want to raise consciousness among architects and the building industry that broad and fundamental changes are required in their field to achieve engaging inclusive spaces not only within Herne Hill Velodrome but into the future of the City.