Housing and Community Development

  • 1.  Accessible Homes

    Posted 03-27-2014 06:47 PM
    Yes, Accessible Design is Good Design, but who decides what's "good"?  Does it use the latest materials?  Is it publication-worthy? This is short-sighted thinking. Is it useable, for intended purposes? Does it imbue daily living with grace and delight? These are the questions we architects need to be asking. Steve Jobs said "Design is about how it works." So is Accessible Design. It's not just for people who use wheelchairs. It's for people who have - or may one day have - a wide variety of conditions, temporary or permanent, sudden or progressive, visual/auditory/cognitive/dexterity/mobility impairments, and their friends, family, helpers, and future owners. Doesn't that really mean all of us? Thus was born the notion of Universal Design.

    Basic design skills will serve architects well in seeking to design accessible places, but good designers must do more. We need to learn to listen to our clients, and ask the right questions. We need to be deft at creating value with fewer resources. We need to stay current on technologies for smart homes and knowledgeable about ubiquitous computing. We need to follow social trends - cultural and economic realities that are changing the context in which we design. We need to advise our clients regarding funding assistance. We need to teach contractors to look at buildings differently.

    It's easy to think that good design is about gorgeous spaces, and that's how the public sees things. So do many architects. It's not enough. Accessible design asks us to raise the bar, and meeting the challenge lets us create places that are awesomely beautiful but also make living easier. It's an exploration that makes us better architects. 

    -------------------------------------------
    Deborah Pierce AIA
    Pierce Lamb Architects
    West Newton MA
    -------------------------------------------


  • 2.  RE:Accessible Homes

    Posted 04-02-2014 11:20 AM
    I agree with D Pierce, and would expand the notion that "accessible design" is not just for persons with disabilities but rather to include them and benefit all of us in the built environment.  It is crucial for us as "problem solvers" to recognize that building  and accessibility codes set minimum standards, based on "average" dimensions established by studying large numbers of people.  These provisions are most appropriate in public spaces.  In a home design, a designer's assuming that code provisions will work can lead to un-useable environments for a specific person.  Designers need to ask questions and individualize their environments as much as budgets and other circumstances permit.

    If there's one thing I've learned in my practice it's that people are individuals, including those with disabilities.  Everyone has their own way of doing some activity (or would if their environment allowed them to).




    -------------------------------------------
    Thomas Hirsch FAIA
    Principal Architect
    Hirsch Group LLC
    Madison WI
    -------------------------------------------








  • 3.  RE:Accessible Homes

    Posted 04-03-2014 08:42 PM
    I am worried about driving up the costs of housing where the average person can not afford housing.
    Examples:  ICC revised their model code for stair geometry several years ago.  To date I am not aware of any jurisdiction that has adopted it.  It was adopted without any basis to go on (none were ever built and tested).
    NC has adopted the minimum tread.

    The 2012 IRC includes a requirement for a sprinkler system in all single-family residences.  A very few local jurisdictions in the entire country have adopted the requirement.  NY has adopted them in 4-story and above (makes sense).
    I was in attendance with a bunch of fire fighters and asked how many of them had installed sprinklers in their own homes.  I am still waiting for a hand to go up.  And they testified that they were so safe and should be installed in ALL homes.




    -------------------------------------------
    D. Cook AIA
    Tipp City OH
    -------------------------------------------