Research Paper_ 5th draft

A Study on Adaptable Residential Design for Mobility Disabilities

Ben Lee (Min Hyung Lee)

Oct, 21, 2007

Introduction

The increase of mobility disabilities, who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids, due to the rapid growth of aging society, traffic accidents, and industrial disasters, becomes a major issue in our society. Communities and government have tried to give people with disability equal right to participate in their society as valuable members. For example, nowadays, public facilities, not only buildings but also roads, schools, and parks, are more accessible than past and use by all the people without any barrier. However, the disabled still have struggled with their physical obstacles. In spite that Interior designer should consider about various members of communities and their ability, few studies on Interior design for the impaired have been limited to public facilities. Therefore, it is necessary to think about the difficulties of the handicapped and their family members to live a convenient life in their house. In order to address this issue, this report proposes ‘universal design in residential design. According to the center for universal design (2007), universal design is barrier free and accessible design for all people and makes product and builds environment to be usable by all people without exception. Thus, this paper will focus on difficulties of the disabled in residential area and will try to find adaptable residential design through universal design as a solution.

The Physical Obstacle of The Disabled in Residential Space

Residential space design is one of the most important factors which influence the quality of life for the disabled and an independent life. However, the physically impaired have difficulty in moving and obvious access problems with their physical obstacles in the house. According to Young and Pace (2007), House design for common people has been developed with developing industrialization, while house interior design for wheelchair users has not been developed with a lot of primary factors of difficulty. This physical blockage include narrow gallery spaces, steep slope, uneven surfaces, negotiating steps or changes in level at an entrance, toilet and bathing facilities, and reaching and seeing items placed at conventional heights.

Universal Design in Residential Space

Researched by Young and Pace (2007) showed, if the impaired people who use wheelchair don’t live in particular house designed in consideration of the disabled, they feel difficulty during their daily life with their wheelchair. The interior designs and architectures are definitely important to the handicapped because it could be focal point for quality of life. In some case, the physically challenged use facilities designed for them conveniently after remodeling facilities, while their family feels difficulty using this facility because this design doesn’t consider about normal people. Therefore, this standard should guarantee independent life for the handicapped and convenient life between incapacitated and family members in the same place simultaneously and universal design, which was suggested at North Carolina State University, could be solution to solve this problem in this paper. From now on, this report would suggest some focal criteria in each area, which could meet demands of both sides.

Entrances and General Interior

Whenever the handicapped enter into their main door, they would meet prominence and depression in front of door. And they need another person’s help to enter into. Therefore, in terms of entrance design, Young and Pace (2007) study found the following:

One entrance without steps.
Minimum five x five-foot maneuvering space at the stepless entrance.
For viewing, a sidelight or a peephole at 42 and 60 inches above the floor.
All closet rods adjustable to 48 inches above the floor.

Kitchens

Moreover, they need extra space for going through with wheelchair and more space to turn around in kitchen. However, we can not find this wide space in kitchen generally and disabled people feel difficulty to move back and forth in kitchen. And they have to bear difficulty from kitchen furniture and refrigerator. For example, whenever they want to open the door of kitchen furniture and refrigerator, wheelchair users have to move beside from theses objects because of lack of space in kitchen. According to Young and Pace (2007):

Adaptable cabinets to reveal knee space at sink and under work surface near
cooking appliance.
Counter space with front - or side-mounted controls and staggered burners to
eliminate dangerous reaching.
Single-lever faucets.
Side-by-side refrigerator/freezer or refrigerator/freezer with frozen food storage in
the bottom.
Variable height work surfaces adjustable through a range of 28 to 42 inches.

Bathroom and Bedroom

And the bathroom is important space that causes many unexpected accident and accident due to carelessness. The obstruction factors were increased when the disabled try to use both hands or to reach and pick up objects, to move and to assist the severe handicapped in the bathroom. And also the bathroom needs extra space to move and turn around wheelchair in it. Designer have to think about the height of toilet as same as wheelchair and safety holder for the enfeebled because it is difficult to switch from wheelchair to bath tubs and toilets. As regards bathroom design, Young and Pace (2007) study found the following:

Adaptable cabinets to reveal knee space under lavatory.
Enlarged reinforced areas around toilets and bathing fixtures to provide secure.
Mounting locations other than the minimums found in design standards.
Offset controls in tub or shower to minimize stooping, bending, and reaching.
Single-lever faucets.
Toilet centered in a minimum 36-inch wide space, 18 inches from the sidewall.
Adjustable height hand-held shower head.
Mirror to backsplash at lavatory.

Finally, the bedroom need more space to access to the bed and the height of bed is as same as wheelchair.

Conclusion

This research focused on the characteristic of disabled people who use wheelchair, their difficulty in general residential house and suggested some criteria as the solution of these problems using universal design. For entrance, this paper suggested design without step and enough space for moving. And for kitchen, this paper proposed adaptable cabinet considering knee space and variable height working space. Finally, this paper suggested wide enough space to turning around toilets and bathing fixtures and adaptable cabinets for knee space under lavatory.

This standard is on the assumption that there is enough space and they can afford to renovate it and it has still difficulty to apply it in real condition, while this standard can be adaptable design criteria for mobility disabilities and it suggested that it can be help substantially to the disabled, Even though this research paper suggested some standards in residential design, these are set limit to wheelchair user and this paper could not cover all the physically challenged. And there are no researches about serious illness disabled people like cerebral palsy. Therefore, designers and architects have to establish particular adaptable standards for each different the disabled.

Reference List

Ostroff , E., & Preiser, W. ( 2001). Universal design handbook. New York. McGraw-Hill.

The Center for Universal Design (2007). About Universal Design. North Carolina State University. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/about_ud/about_ud.htm

Young, L. C., & Pace, R. J. (2007). Accessible multifamily housing. North Carolina State University. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/pubs_p/docs/acessiblemultifamilyhousing.pdf

Young, L. C. (2007). Residential Rehabilitation, Remodeling and Universal Design. North Carolina State University. Retrieved September 28,2007, from http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/pubs_p/docs/residential_remodelinl.
Pdf

Sang's feedback

OK, Ben. Go ahead to work with a writing tutor. Good luck with your next paper.