Design Thinking to Familiarize Hearing-Impaired Architectural Drafting Students with Human-Centered Design Concept

Purpose Developing a human-centered design understanding in built environment-related professions and enabling them to encompass diversity are crucial for the improvement of more inclusive environments. Considering the value of guiding experiences of people with disabilities for more inclusive design practice and increasing the awareness of professionals with disabilities in design and building practice plays a key role in achieving this goal. There is a growing effort to implement inclusive and universal design issues to the educational programs of design and related disciplines for about two decades. Contrary to the developments in the pedagogy of “core” design disciplines, human-centered design perspective seems not to be widespread enough in the education of so-called “peripheral” occupations of design, like architectural drafting, especially in Turkey. Design Thinking (DT) approach, which is defined as a way of thinking, is in fact widely used in the design-related fields. In such a need of human-centered and creative problem solving, the approach seems to provide a potential to raise awareness about user-oriented design in such peripheral occupations like architectural drafting education. Considering the widening use of strategies of DT also in non-design fields, the research out of which this article comes from involves a special adaption of the approach. Departing from the ultimate aim “to raise awareness of hearing-impaired architectural drafting students about user oriented architectural design,” it applies the strategies of the DT to this special case and reports the process and its findings, hence not only providing a special instance of the model but also revealing its potential contribution to peripheral or non-design disciplines. Design/Methodology/Approach Since it particularly focuses on understanding of human behavior, provides flexible and holistic tools to investigate such phenomena and since it is based on a systematic and reflective process, the present research was carried out through qualitative research approach and its tools. Findings Study showed that in relation to hearing-impaired students’ underlined need for getting familiarized with the process of architectural design and focusing on human-centered design approach, present application of Design Thinking strategy worked effectively to provide basic information about architectural design, design process, and related tasks and user needs as well, as part of design process for h