Using Virtual Reality to Inspire Accessible Design

Eugenia Victoria Ellis, PhD, professor emerita of civil architectural and environmental engineering, is part of a team of researchers who were awarded a $10,000 grant by Drexel University’s AgeWell Collaboratory to develop better design standards for the built environment.

The project, “Virtual Shoes: Using Virtual Reality to Enhance Safety and Foster Better Design for Older Adults in the Built Environment,” will utilize virtual reality to allow older and younger adults to experience each other’s perceptual environments, letting each generation virtually walk in the other’s shoes. By better understanding the navigational skills and mobility issues of older adults, architects of the younger generation will be inspired to design more accessible spaces.

An older adult experiences virtual reality.