Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.
Collection documents Ronald Mace's work as an architect, designer, consultant, and educator, as well as an advocate for the rights of the disabled. The collection reflects work produced from 1974 to 1998, but contains only a few items dated before 1980. The records include correspondence, project reports, architectural drawings, videos, and publications. Much of the material reflects Mace's work as a consultant with BFE, Inc.
Ronald L. Mace was a nationally and internationally recognized architect, product designer, and educator whose design philosophy provided a design foundation for a more usable world. He coined the term "universal design" to describe the concept of designing products and the built environment to serve the needs of people regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.
Ronald L. Mace (1941-1998) was a nationally and internationally recognized architect, product designer, and educator whose design philosophy provided a design foundation for a more usable world. He coined the term "universal design" to describe the concept of designing products and the built environment to serve the needs of people regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.
Mace was born in Jersey City, N.J., in 1941, and contracted polio at the age of nine. His spent his childhood years with his family in Winston-Salem, N.C. In 1966, Mace graduated with a B.A. in Architecture from North Carolina State University's School of Design. For four years he practiced conventional architecture before becoming involved in the effort to produce the first building code for accessibility in the United States. This code became North Carolina law in 1973 and served as a model code for other states. Mace's pioneering work in the field of accessible design was instrumental in the passage of national legislation prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities. His efforts include work on the 1973 Federal Rehabilitation Act which mandates accessibility requirements for federally-funded programs; the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 which provides minimum accessibility requirements in all multifamily housing units; and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that incorporates major building, transportation, and communications design requirements guaranteeing equal opportunity to all people in public service businesses.
In 1989, Mace established the federally-funded Center for Accessible Housing, later known as the Center for Universal Design, at North Carolina State University's School of Design. The Center has become a leading national and international resource for information on universal design in housing, products, and the built environment. He also served as Research Professor in the Architecture Department at the School of Design.
Ronald Mace was also President of Barrier Free Environments, Inc. (BFE), an accessible design consulting firm, and a Principal of BFE Architecture, P.A., in Raleigh, N.C. He was Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and in 1992 he received the Distinguished Service Award of the President of the United States for his distinguished service in promoting dignity, equality, independence, and employment of people with disabilities. Mace was also awarded the 1996 American Institute of Architects Presidential Citation and a 1997 North Carolina State University Distinguished Alumni Award. Ronald Mace died on June 29, 1998.
The records in the Ronald Mace Papers document Mace's work as an architect, designer, consultant, and educator, as well as an advocate for the rights of the disabled. The collection reflects work produced from 1974 to 1998, although it contains only a few items dated before 1980. The records include correspondence, project reports, architectural drawings, videos, and publications. Much of the material reflects Mace's work as a consultant with BFE, Inc. Many of the site surveys and reports were undertaken to determine compliance with the public accommodation and facilities requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some of the projects include accessibility studies for the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Durham Arts Council, the Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center, and Hyatt Hotels. The University of Virginia project shows the challenge of balancing accessibility goals with preservation concerns. Other projects and publications represent the involvement of Mace and BFE with the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Education. Their collaborations include training and technical assistance in Section 504 regulations designed to assure disabled people full participation in society, and publications on applying universal design concepts to affordable housing. Other publications in the collection include Mace's pioneering work on the Illustrated Handbook of the Handicapped Section of the North Carolina State Building Code (1974), and BFE's The System: Making Accessibility Affordable: Accessible Design and Product Information System, a resource for design and product information on accessibility. Many of these publications illustrate a focus on accessibility education. The architectural drawings reflect Mace's work as an architect and designer. Projects include the D. Paul Kelly residence, the Conrad residence, a prototype design for a small group home, and additions and improvements for the Easter Seal Society of North Carolina. Also included is a design drawing for a tub seat. Mace's prominence in the field of universal design is reflected in the numerous alphabetical files. These papers include information on conferences and seminars where he was a speaker, consultations with developers of accessible products, as well as documentation of his role in a Dupont advertising campaign.
The collection is organized in five series: Alphabetical Files; Project Files; Publications, Videotapes, and Artifact.
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], Ronald L. Mace Papers, MC 00260, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gift of the Estate of Ronald L. Mace, September 1998
Processed by Sarah G. Carr, 1999 March; Machine-readable finding aid created by Steven Mandeville-Gamble, 2005 September
The collection is organized into five principal series:
Correspondence, conference information, design consultations, disability rights material, and reports.
Arranged alphabetically.
Site surveys, accessibility reports, photographs, proposals, budgets, work files, and architectural drawings detailing Mace's work on specific architectural and design projects. The projects have been assigned project numbers according to the year the project started, and follow numerically within each year. Each project is designated in the finding aid by the call number: MC#.p.project#.folder. The photographs generally detail building conditions that warrant changes in order to provide access, and many have been marked up by Mace to show the specific design changes needed.
Arranged chronologically.
Photographs
Work File
Photographs
Work File
Photographs
Work File
Photographs
Work File
Photographs
Work File
Review for Accessibility to the Disabled
Photographs
Work File
Photographs
Request for Proposal
Business Proposal
Technical Proposal
Revised Budget
Correspondence
Final Budget
Work File
Correspondence
Correspondence
Review and Recommendations Report
Correspondence
Housing and Environmental Design Plan
Universal Design Recommendations Report
Business Proposal
Technical Proposal
Entrance Modification Working Drawings, 5 sheets, various sizes, pencil and black ink on vellum and white paper
Drawings, 5 sheets, various sizes, pencil and black ink on vellum and white paper
Lift Installation Proposal Drawings
3 sheets, various sizes, pencil on vellum
Schematic Drawings, 3 sheets, 18 x 14, black line on white paper
Workling Drawings, 2 sheets, 18 x 14, pencil on vellum
Working Drawings, 2 sheets, 18 x 14, pencil on vellum
Working Drawings, 2 sheets, 18 x 14, pencil on vellum
Sketches, 3 sheets, various sizes, pencil on white and graph paper
Working Drawings, 3 sheets, various sizes, pencil on yellow tissue
Program and Concept Design Drawings and Proposal (Quinn Evans Architects), 27 sheets, 17 x 11, black ink on white paper
Sketches, 4 sheets, various sizes, pencil on white and yellow tissue
Working Drawings, 2 sheets, 24 x 18, pencil on vellum
Site Schematic, 1 sheet, 18 x 13, blue line sepia on paper with pencil on yellow tissue overlay
Schematic I, 1 sheet, 25 x 18, pencil on yellow tissue
Floor Plan Sketch, 1 sheet, 8 1/2 x 11, red pencil on white tissue
Working Drawings, 19 sheets, 24 x 18, pencil on vellum
Working Drawings, 1 sheet, 36 x 24, pencil on vellum
Preliminary Site Plan, 1 sheet, 17 x 11, pencil on vellum
Schematic Plans, 1 sheet, 36 x 24,
Exterior Elevation Sketches, 6 sheets, various sizes, pencil on yellow tissue
Floor Plan Sketch, 1 sheet, 23 x 14, pencil on yellow tissue
Kitchen Layout Sketch, 1 sheet, 8 x 14, pencil on white paper
Schematic Designs, 13 sheets, black line and pencil on vellum, blue & green ink on vellum
Working Drawings, 8 sheets, 39 x 25, black line and pencil on vellum
Pending staff review and approval, access to digital copies will be provided for use in the SCRC Reading Room upon request.
Digitized copies exist.
Working Drawings, 28 sheets, various sizes, black ink and pencil on paper,film, and graph paper
Preliminary Scheme, 1 sheet, 35 x 24, pencil and ink on paper
Sketches, 2 sheets, 21 x 14, pencil on tissue paper
Architect's Drawings (Ellinwood Design Assoc., Ltd.), 6 sheets, 35 x 24, blue line sepia on paper
Entrance Elevation Sketches, 3 sheets, various sizes, pen and pencil on paper and tissue paper
Entrance Elevation Sketches, West and North, 1 sheet, blue line and colored ink on paper
Reception Desk and Seating Unit Drawing, 1 sheet, 35x24, black ink and pencil on film
Revised Scheme I, 4 sheets, various sizes, black ink and pencil on yellow tissue and paper
Modifications Drawings, 4 sheets, various sizes, blue line sepia and pencil on yellow tissue
Floor Plan Drawings, 3 sheets, various sizes, pencil and black ink on paper, film, and graph vellum
Floor Plan Sketches, pencil on tissue and black ink on paper
Working Drawings, 10 sheets, 38 x 24, pencil and black ink on vellum
Boundary and Topographical Plan, 1 sheet, 36 x 24, blue line sepia with pencil on white tissue overlay
Schematic Drawings, 2 sheets, 38 x 24, pencil on vellum
Floor Plan Sketches, 3 sheets, 35 x 24, pencil and black line on vellum
Working Drawings, 11 sheets, 36 x 24, pencil and black line on vellum
Sink Sketches, 2 sheets, 8 x 11, pencil on yellow tissue
Sketches, 4 sheets, various sizes, pencil, blue and black line, and marker on paper
Site Review Draft Report
Site Review Final Report
General
General
Phase I: Jeffersonian Precinct
Site Report
Site Report
Site Report
Site Report
Study Report
Task I Methodology
Site Report
Survey Report
Work File
ADA Study: Transition Plan
Report
Several of the items have been removed from their original binders, copies made of the cover, and housed in archival boxes. Otherwise they retain in their original integrity.
Arranged chronologically.
7 sheets of photograph slides
13 sheets of photograph slides
After review, access to the digital copies may be provided for use in the SCRC Reading Room upon request.
The Special Collections Research Center, NC State University Libraries, has digital copies of some or all of these materials.
Videocassettes on universal design and disability issues.
1 videotape of 1
1 videotape of 1
1 videotape of 1
1 videotape of 1
Ronald Mace's personal library embosser.
Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.
For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.
Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111
Phone: (919) 515-2273
[Identification of item], Ronald L. Mace Papers, MC 00260, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.