OU Architecture Associate Professor Wanda Liebermann recently announced the release of her new book, Architecture’s Disability Problem.
The book explores the intersection of architecture and disability in the United States from the perspective of professional practice. Liebermann investigates why, despite the huge impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the architectural profession, there has been so little interest in design for disability in mainstream architecture.
Using case studies, the book showcases alternative approaches to designing with disability. These examples highlight buildings and design processes driven by disabled people, shaping design outcomes and professional roles.
Combining historical research, formal and discourse analysis, and interviews with people who design, construct, and use buildings, as well as those who advocate for access, the book develops a social understanding of how buildings work at functional, affective, and symbolic levels in relation to disability.
The book argues for an architectural focus on disability—and the body—instead of the dominance of formal, object-oriented approaches. Its aim is a fundamental shift in the way architectural education, policy, and practice engages with disability.
Architecture’s Disability Problem is available for purchase on Routledge’s website.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
