BNCA students conduct ACCESS AUDIT of important public buildings in pune city

Pune is upcoming has one of the next metro cities in the country, developing as a global hub for education, culture, IT and medical care. People from all over the world wish to live and work in Pune and consider it as one of the most livable cities in the world.

BUT IS THE CITY REALLY LIVABLE FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE DISABLED PEOPLE ?

DOES THE CITY AND ITS BUILDINGS OFFER A BARRIER FREE ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL TYPES OF USER GROUPS ?

With such questions and many more, a group of sensitive students and Prof. Kavita Murugkar conducted a quick visit and access audit of some important public buildings in the city.

The buildings chosen were - Bal Gandharv Auditorium, Sasoon hospital, PMC building, Fergusson college and 

The observations were very disappointing and showed the ignorance of this aspect while designing and maintaining public spaces in the city. The access audit identified that in most of the places, basic barrier free design provisions were absent and wherever present - they were faulty in design and detailing, thus making them unproductive and unuseful.

Need is to reform the design practices and bring a paradigm change in the way we have been shaping our world. Need is to move from the standard/average to the least common denominator and offer more choices and flexibility in our designs.

Find below some illustrations of the problems identified :

BALGANDHARVA  THEATRE

CHATURSHRINGI TEMPLE

PMPML BUS STAND

SASOON TEMPLE