Architect Karen Braitmayer Shares Stories from her Accessibility Consulting Firm
When Karen Braitmayer enters a space, she immediately begins to redesign it in her head to accommodate all members of the disability community. The exercise comes after a lifetime of practice and expertise as both a member of the disability community herself and as the founder of Studio Pacifica, a consulting firm that assists architects with creating barrier-free buildings.
Braitmayer has lived and thrived in her life with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a disability that affects both her mobility and hearing.
Braitmayer is a part of the generation that grew up before the sprawling institutional changes of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) came into effect in 1991. She is able to recall a time where accessibility was a foreign concept in building and designing spaces. Her childhood experiences of not being able to access most public buildings or take the city bus fueled her passion for designing spaces that would accommodate everyone, regardless of their disabilities. Early in her career, Braitmayer realized she had an unparalleled opportunity to provide a perspective that is often missing from the field of architecture: that of a lifelong wheelchair user who was profoundly aware of how accessibility in buildings can affect the ease of daily life.
On our podcast, we asked Braitmayer about her achievements in accessibility consulting in the Seattle area in the United States. The list is impressive, including consulting work for the Seattle Space Needle, student housing at Smith College, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
When asked which of the projects stood out, Braitmayer pointed to her consultations for the Seattle Space Needle, which has long been the building that has graced postcards and been marked as the must-visit spot in the city. The Space Needle underwent renovations a few years back, and Studio Pacifica was brought on to consult on how to make the space more accessible.
For Braitmayer, a native of the Seattle area, she immediately knew what had to be changed to allow for greater movement on the observation deck from her own experiences. The Space Needle’s observation deck is two platforms connected by a number of stairs, rendering it near-impossible for some people to get to the windows overlooking the city on the Space Needle’s outer edge. Before renovations, the observation deck had a clunky platform lift that rarely worked. Braitmayer herself had never been on the lower platform. Studio Pacifica worked with the architect tasked with the renovation to install a unique product. When in use, the new lift allows for easy and reliable transport to the lower observation deck, where expanded floor to ceiling windows allow every person to experience the awe of looking out over Seattle from over 500 feet up. When not in use, the new lift blends into the stairs, retaining design and protecting the integrity of the space.
Braitmayer’s work with the Space Needle captures a snapshot of what it means for spaces to be accessible. It’s about giving every person the opportunity to have their breath taken away by spots that were previously barred to them. The US has come a long way in ensuring new buildings are accessible and built to be ADA compliant, but there is still work to be done.
For Braitmayer, she hopes that her work will continue to make the Seattle area accessible, one building at a time.
Want to listen to Karen Braitmayer in her own words? Check out the Traipsin’ Global on Wheels Podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDz-tDj7uaA&t=226s
Comments