Levels of Design
Five levels of interventions, adaptations, or design
These guidelines are applicable to both new build and existing ELC settings. In this regard, we have identified five different levels of design that can be applied as part of a UD approach. These different design levels illustrate that users of these guidelines can select appropriate guidance relevant to the nature of their project. This will depend on whether it is a new-build or an existing building, the available budget, and other factors.
The design levels are based primarily on the potential disturbance to the building and cost. The introduction of art display boards or signage may cause no disturbance to the building structure and cost very little. The addition of certain assistive technology such as ‘grab-bars’ may only cause minor disruption and be low cost. Moving up the design levels involves greater disruption to the building, culminating in design level number 5. This would involve spatial layout changes, structural modifications, or new-build and would be at the upper end of building costs within this framework.
The five design levels which are shown in Figure 1 are as follows:
- Signage, painting, artwork or planting: This is a low disturbance, low cost solution and can be considered in all scenarios, whether this involves a retrofit, or a new build project.
- Building-related assistive technology: There is wide variety of building- related assistive technology available for Early Learning and Care settingsincluding induction loops, therapeutic lighting and more. Considering that many of these can be easily retrofitted without structural implications, this could also represent a low disruption option.
- Interior and exterior furniture, fixtures and fittings: This could involve replacing internal floor finishes, upgrading bathroom fittings, or providing new shelving, storage units, or furniture.
- Building fit-out: This level of intervention may involve fitting new windows to increase thermal or acoustic performance or installing new sanitary fittings. It may also involve internal works such as fitting new doors or widening door openings.
- Building layout and structure including new build: This applies to all new build or projects with major renovations and entails disruptive construction work. It involves building layout considerations such as room location, orientation or size, along with all associated structure and fit-out elements such as windows, doors and more.
These five levels of design have been identified to outline how the guidelines are:
- Applicable to both new and existing settings.
- Usable across a wide spectrum of issues; from minor low-cost adaptations such as painting or signage, to major works involving structural changes or new-build.
- Usable by various stakeholders, including educators who want to implement minor changes, the setting owners, management, or the design team involved in new-build or refurbishment.
- The reader should consider these design levels as part of the design process to help inform decision-making in line with user needs and construction budget.
