In Pursuit of Architectural Happiness, on the Potential for Change in Legal Frameworks for Accessibility.

Abstract

Modern architecture has generated measurable requirements about users' interactions with the built environment to create user-oriented architecture through meticulous full-scale testing with subsequent standardization. These requirements have entered the legal framework as minimum threshold values for basic demands that regulate building and physical planning. In the construction of the modern welfare society, building-related requirements have been associated with fundamental ethical values for the societal construction, e.g., equity, health, inclusion, and sustainable development. The programming of architecture through building requirements can be seen as giving the users a dosage of happiness through architecture. The modern welfare state defines an architectural happiness through is legal frameworks. This study analyzed thirteen questions from a 37-question questionnaire, distributed to 122 informants, in thirteen countries. The study aimed at establishing the contemporaneous understandings and uses of the concept of accessibility. The study concluded that, currently, the concept of accessibility has turned into a technical instrument that limits the quest for an increased fit between user demands and needs with the architectural design. Furthermore, there is a loose link between accessibility and sustainability. In conclusion, architectural happiness for the upcoming sustainable society of the 2030s needs to update the concept of accessibility so that the outcome - usability for future users - becomes apparent.