FUNCTIONAL INTERIORS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 4(2+2)

Lesson 1: Housing Environment for Special Needs

Introduction

Housing environments are formal expressions of social and political systems, and their impacts on the role of housing to improve health, generate incomes and provide security. The houses in which we all live and we all probably take very much for granted actually exert a powerful, influence on our everyday experience of family living. The house profoundly affects not only the family’s activities, but its relationships and its satisfactions from family life. At the same time, the values which individual families attach to housing are potent factors affecting the choice of features to be included in the home and the selection of the home itself. In considering the house as the important aspect of our lives, two things should be kept in mind

• Not only does man react specifically to the influence of the house in which he lives
• The house in turn reacts in a similar manner to its inhabitants.

The families’ values form the basis for housing which meets the fundamental needs and desires. These values i.e. as family centrism, equality, economy, physical health, freedom, mental health, aesthetics, leisure and social prestige are important considerations while considering the housing for normal families and more so for people with special needs.

Apart from the building, the relation of the location and environs of the home is also very important and they also affect the reaction of individual to his housing.

The application of house planning principles of zoning, circulation, adequate spacing and orientation are important in creating appropriate interiors to suit the needs of the individuals. So also the effect of the families’ financial status, educational level, cultural interests, standards and values, provide the unique environment for fulfilling all the needs.

Because of the multiplication of the demands made on it, the family dwelling is an exceedingly complex structure. It is the center of family life. The house has the power to foster or inhibit relationships between family members by the extent to which the members can attain privacy when wanted, and the ease with which the members can congregate or separate. This relationship is all the more important when the housing is meant for people with special needs. It is important to give a thought to the housing needs of those with special needs.