Inclusive design: the Design for All approach on Radio Canale Italia

Inclusive design where sustainability meets accessibility

Asked how environmental constraints and universal accessibility requirements can coexist in complex buildings such as hotels and shopping centres, Rodighiero explained that the two demands, often seen as opposed, now converge in a single strategy for well-being. The real critical variable, he observed, is time: reconciling sustainability, inclusion and the quality of the spaces within schedules that meet investors’ needs.

From hotels to senior housing: redefining the user

The notion of the user, Rodighiero explained, is not limited to disability. Involving everyone with a stake in the project, from older people to families, makes it possible to find solutions that benefit many people, provided they use a non-stigmatising design language: unobtrusive accessibility, built in from the start, which can prevent later corrections and additions. The studio also addresses these issues in its Design for All and Inclusive Design consultancy for hospitality venues.

Co-Design and flexibility over time

Asked how present and future needs can be gathered, Rodighiero pointed to Co-Design as the most effective tool for turning users’ experience and expertise into concrete solutions. Given the speed of social and technological change, the studio pursues flexible design solutions that can adapt with minimal intervention; artificial intelligence plays a part as a complementary tool, not a substitute.

When accessibility enhances aesthetics

On the supposed conflict between function and aesthetic quality, Rodighiero cited the washbasin developed for the hotel sector: a design intended to move away from a clinical language and convey, instead, an image consistent with hospitality. The result, he said, is often described as surprising by buyers and end users: for Rodighiero, it is proof that universal accessibility can enhance, not penalise, high-end design.

Trends according to the Design for All Italia association

Speaking from the national perspective of the association, Rodighiero identified the user interface as the most dynamic field of the past five years: as objects dematerialise, the task of making them understandable shifts to the interface, as the iF Design Award 2025 (opens in a new tab) given to BTicino Linea 5000, the outdoor video door-entry panel, confirms. At the same time, he observed, funding from Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) is reshaping the cultural accessibility of museums and public spaces, revising labels, captions and audio guides from a sensory as well as a descriptive perspective.

The studio worked on the Linea 5000 user interface, providing UX and UI analysis and design; the case is collected, with others, in our case studies.

Note of 29 October 2026. The PNRR measure for removing physical and cognitive barriers in museums, libraries and archives is worth €300 million. Its target, at least 617 sites with a certificate of completion of works, was set for the second quarter of 2026. As of 15 April 2026 the Italian Chamber of Deputies (opens in a new tab) had not yet reported the outcome.

The inclusive design Rodighiero describes brings together the ethics, aesthetics and economics of design: it is the common ground of two distinct approaches, Design for All and Inclusive Design.