Good design: Accessibilty

[fabrisse]

When I design my ideal community in my head, as I often do, one of the big issues, along with food options, is accessibility. The older the city, the more likely it is to have areas where a wheelchair can't get into a house or arcane solutions have had to be found for public buildings.

Architecture Daily has an article on basic accessibility designs today: here.

In addition, since I live in the city of Gallaudet, I have also been following a project called DeafSpace which codifies ways to make buildings easier for the deaf to navigate. Here are two more articles: the first is about the Sorenson Building on the Gallaudet Campus and the other has references to the Sorenson Building, but is more concerned about the general principles.

Comments

[kathmandu]

That Architecture Daily article is the first place I've seen anyone else advocating for hallways to be *at least* 5 feet wide. People keep planning on the basis of 'one slim person with no obstacles' and don't even think about 'two people passing each other', let alone 'carrying bulky stuff, like a laundry basket'.

[fabrisse]

I'm on a cane (again). It amazes me how much wider I am when I use it. If my across-the-hall neighbor comes home on his electric scooter, we have a difficult time maneuvering to pass each other, and heaven forfend if one of us comes out our door while other goes in.

DeafSpace was the first I'd heard about quantifying some of the issues for the deaf. I was amazed at how many would improve the lives of someone in a wheelchair or with limited mobility.