Independent living is a central goal for people with disabilities, and the accessibility of the home environment plays a key role in achieving it. In particular, circulation areas within the household are essential to ensure autonomous and safe mobility. Although regulations guide the design of accessible housing, they do not always account for the specific needs of users.
This study presents a method for evaluating how well housing designs support universal accessibility by using virtual reality. It focuses on areas where people need to move around, such as hallways and doorways. The researchers used a method called Design Science Research to guide their work. They created a virtual home that complies with Chile’s accessibility regulations and tested how people would interact with it in everyday situations.
The results show that the use of virtual reality enables the early identification of accessibility barriers from the end-user perspective, allowing design adjustments before construction and contributing to more inclusive, user-centered planning.
