Universal Design, but at What Cost? A Case Study on Lifts in Norwegian School Competitions

In a larger perspective, this paper investigates architects' and contractors' attitude towards universal design in the competition phase of the largest school building projects. Three Design Build school competitions with negotiations and one limited architecture competition are examined in terms of to what degree the competitors are willing to invest in lifts. The Norwegian Building Code requires a lift in all public buildings with two or more storeys, and the lift should be easy to locate with its access close to the main entrance. However, a school building often has more main entrances, as the different age groups each tend to have their own entrances. This seems to put the competitors in a dilemma concerning the correct interpretation: Is it sufficient with simply the one lift at the official main entrance, or is it necessary with more lifts in connection with the entrances for the different age groups? The results show that despite the requirements in the Building Codes and the competition briefs, the competitors tend to prioritize lower bids in favor of optimal universally designed buildings. The results also show that any school design, with some reasonable effort, could reach a lift detour of maximum three minutes when using the calculation model applied in this research. However, from a lift user's point of view, any kind of detour may be experienced socially excluding and unacceptable.