Selwyn Goldsmith (11 December 1932 – 3 April 2011) was an architect, town planner, writer and disabilities advocate who was instrumental in the development of the

universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

approach to design. He wrote numerous books which became standard texts for designers and architects.

Biography

Goldsmith was born in Newark,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

on 11 December 1932. He was educated at

Abbotsholme school Abbotsholme School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school. The school is situated on a 140-acre campus on the banks of the River Dove, Central England, River Dove in Derbyshir ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, and read

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

, completing his qualification at the Bartlett School,

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, in 1956. He contracted

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

in that same year and was paralysed down the right hand side of his body for the rest of his life.

Research

Dropped kerb

While working in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

in 1967, he interviewed wheelchair users, research that led to the concept of the idea of the dropped kerb. 15 of these being installed in the city. After this development Goldsmith realised the impact this can have on all users, such as mothers with pushchairs. This led to his interest in Universal principles of design.

Universal design

Goldsmith worked with Gordon Ricketts, the secretary of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

. Together they developed the idea behind Designing for the Disabled which was a new concept within the UK. This resulted in the book Designing for the Disabled (1963), which is an architectural planning manual on access for disabled people to facilities and buildings. He later revised this book after retirement. In his later life he further developed the idea of

Universal Design Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability, or other factors. It emerged as a rights-based, anti-discrimination measure, which seeks to create design ...

in a book of the same title. This work considered that having "different" or "extreme" needs is not unusual, but in fact "normal". That urban design, architecture and digital content should be design for all as a standard and not be considering a certain group as special.

''The architect who takes the bottom-up route to universal design works on the premise that the building users he or she is serving, including those with disabilities, are all people who can be treated as normal people. The architect does not start with the presumption that people with disabilities are abnormal, are peculiar and different, and that, in order to make buildings accessible to them, they should be packaged together and then, with a set of special-for-the-disabled accessibility standards, have their requirements presented in topdown mode as add-ons to unspecified normal provision.''

Ps and queues

Goldsmith worked with his wife, Becky Goldsmith, on the issue of inequality in toilet facilities in major buildings from 1989. Their research highlighted the issue of the poor level of toilets for women over that of men. This led to numerous articles and reports for the UK

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

. He called a subsequent article on the subject "Ps and Queues".

The Selwyn Goldsmith Award

Since 2011 The Civic Trust has been awarding buildings and interior designs which allow all to use with dignity and equality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsmith, Selwyn 1932 births 2011 deaths Alumni of University College London People from Newark and Sherwood (district) Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Architects from Nottinghamshire British male writers English people with disabilities