one project: Kathleen, her son Daniel, and their house, 2001, Edmonton. Daniel’s legs and arms had been amputated when he was six. After this tragic event, Kathleen decided to design and build a house to give her son the same choices for independent movement as anyone else. She was also looking to a future when she might not be able to carry him up the stairs and when Daniel might want more privacy. Building a single- level bungalow wasn’t possible on Kathleen’s lot because Edmonton bylaws restrict the percentage of the lot area that the house can cover. Daniel would have difficulty operating a residential elevator. Thus, we decided on a four-level split with interior ramps between levels. Ramps need more space than stairs which adds cost, but for Daniel to access all parts of the house from his power wheelchair is priceless. Each day for Daniel and Kathleen is a little harder than for the average family, but they strive to live their lives to the fullest and have always appeared very happy. Daniel is now nineteen years old; the best aspect of his house is that it accommodates his friends, who visit him; he cannot visit his friends’ houses as it is too hard to carry both him and his power wheelchair up stairs. This is exactly the way I grew up, with my father’s friends visiting him instead of the other way around. I think of how my father and I had to strategically plan each and every new journey which involved several phone calls to see if a restaurant, or a bowling alley, or a hotel could accommodate a wheelchair, and then ending up following someone through winding hallways, through kitchen and dishwashing areas, out the back door and through the garbage area: this was the accessible path into the building? And then once inside the unit, we would often have to remove the bathroom door to allow my father access to the tub and toilet. We used the freight elevator instead of the public elevator; and I pulled my father up more stairs and curbs than I would like to count. This is what we want to avoid. rules of thumb: They are simple. Think no steps and an accessible bathroom. Other accessibility features will follow. Think of accessibility as a form of sustainability. Accessible features do not require future retrofit work which will use energy, create waste and be expensive. Think good economics and beautiful spaces, safe and easy living. Not too much to ask for, is it. c
Let us take Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute in California, with its wondrous outdoor plaza accessed by three steps. Someone in a wheelchair can get to the plaza level but must follow a less appealing path. If I show an image to architecture students where I have replaced the steps with a sloping pathway and ask them if the design has been negatively affected by the removal of the steps, surprising to me, the answer is often yes. This is the influence of ancient Greek and Roman architecture where steps were used to create spatial separation to great effect — but do we want that kind of separation in public spaces today? Because my upbringing with a father in a wheelchair was unique, I was raised accessing buildings in ways different from the average user; we would often enter a restaurant, recreation facility, or hotel through a back door or side entrance. Even as a child, I knew there was something terribly wrong with this. Today, I design my projects to accommodate as many people as possible in the best way possible, offering the same choices for movement for everyone. My projects exceed the minimum requirements of the barrier-free design guide in the building code. Accessibility features are generally invisible. Accessibility is part of design methodology right from the beginning. And, like any architect, I work towards solutions that are economical and beautiful.
A 30-foot long ramp leads up to the second storey space that houses two bedrooms and a wheelchair- accessible bathroom. Most people think that ramps rather than stairs would be expensive, impractical and a waste of space; in fact ramps afford all residents complete independence. Dwellings with interior ramps rather than stairs may not be that unusual in the next 10 to15 years as the demographic postwar baby boom ages in place. above: ground floor plan showing the two ramps right: the finished ramp far right: Daniel and the framing for the ramp
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This is a brief excerpt from a forthcoming book: Ron Wickman, Accessible Architecture — Beyond the Ramp .
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