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A tiny house can be accessible

Inhabitat website has a feature about the Wheel Pad. The 200 sq ft (18.5 sqm) residence is designed to be an add-on to an existing home. It comes on a trailer and stays on the wheels. This means it can be taken away again if the “house” isn’t needed any more. Judge for yourself in the video below to see if a tiny house can be accessible.

The original idea arose out of a need to incorporate someone after an accident and needed a wheelchair for getting around.

The explanatory video on this website is almost ten minutes long, but well worth the watch. It covers the design process, the features, and finally two wheelchair users who visit and give their feedback about the design. This idea could be adapted in Australia as long as the existing home has a yard big enough to take it. They claim it can be built in a day. A must see for anyone involved in providing home modifications. Also suited to bringing a parent close to home.

Editor’s note: I found the trial by the two wheelchair users at the end very informative. The ramp was a bit steep and long so they used the wooden rails to pull themselves up (splinters were mentioned). One had difficulty coming over the threshold. They discussed what worked and what might not and how things could be changed to suit.

Livable Housing Design Guidelines v4

Livable Housing Australia has redesigned their website information related to the Livable Housing Design Guidelines v4. Gone from the front page is the pdf book style of their fourth version. Replacing it is a stripped-down online version focusing on the three levels in the original guide. There is more emphasis on the expanding Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA) housing market and recruiting housing assessors.

November 2024 update: The Livable Housing Australia website appears to be offline. However, the Guidelines are hosted here and can be downloaded.

For more housing design guidelines go to the Housing Design Guidelines section of this website.

Some History:

The original idea was to have the Guidelines applied to all new housing by 2020. However, it is difficult to apply voluntary guidelines in an industry governed by mandatory building codes and standards. These Guidelines were endorsed by COAG and are cited in government policy documents. Note the spelling of Livable is particular to these guidelines as a brand name by Livable Housing Australia.

The Livable Housing Design Guidelines are a great resource for individuals, builders and building design professionals. It advises what to consider in home design to make it more comfortable, easy to use regardless of age or level of ability. Not all homes will be able to apply all the good ideas. However, doing what you can is a good start for both occupants and visitors alike.

Kitchens for all time

A well designed kitchen is essential for all members of the household. Participating in food preparation is important part of everyday life in many cultures. So anyone who wants to join in with meal preparation should be able to do so.

While the Consumer Report website article was published in 2015, many of the ideas are still current. Storage, work spaces, sinks and taps, lights and power outlets, flooring, doorways and handles, appliances, cookware and utensils are all covered.

With a growing trend to update kitchens every 12-20 years, renovation time is the best time to think about the usability of the kitchen into the future.

Kitchens for later life

More than any room in the house, the kitchen needs to be a place where tasks can be done easily and efficiently. Kitchens are also an important area for social interactions during meal preparation and clean up. As people age, more thought needs to go into kitchen design to overcome issues such as reaching, bending, grasping and holding. However, this should not mean a complete kitchen renovation if these issues are considered in the original kitchen design.

Kitchen Living in Later Life: Exploring Ergonomic Problems, Coping Strategies and Design Solutions is the result of research from different disciplines in the UK. As an academic paper there are some technical references, but the reports of the interviews with older people are quite revealing. Reaching and bending caused the most problems, as well as grasping and lifting. Lighting was also an issue, especially for reading the small print on packaging. The article proposes solutions, some of them related to rearranging things for ease of use.

Ironing proved to be the most difficult task. An interesting study, particularly as we can all relate to both good and bad kitchen design and fitout. This is especially the case with, say, a broken wrist, or slipped disc, which can happen to anyone at any time.

A related topic is the work at the University of Cambridge Inclusive Design team and their online Inclusive Design Toolkit.

A Useable Kitchen

A useable kitchen is a must and it is often the details of the design that make the difference. Once the overall working space has been thought through, the fittings become the focus.

Lifemark in New Zealand has partnered with Blum kitchen products and fittings that help make any kitchen more functional regardless of level of capability to open, grasp, or carry things. Drawers instead of cupboards are now standard in kitchen design, but storing items logically and tidily is another matter.

How to make your kitchen more usable covers workspaces and cabinetry, flooring, colour contrasting, taps and handles.

Other ideas

This item from a Todd Brickhouse Associates newsletter includes some good kitchen design ideas. Scrolling down the page, you can see a picture of a pull-out table that nests neatly under the kitchen bench and over the storage drawers when not in use. Colour contrast is mentioned as an important feature. Another idea is a dual height island bench which has multi functional use. The newsletter includes other items that are probably more specific to north America and also some disability specific items.

For a more academic article see Analysis of kitchen design to include UD. It takes an architect’s perspective.

For a product and futuristic take on kitchens see The future of kitchens.

Small bathrooms and universal design

Home design magazines now feature larger bathrooms with larger fittings, such as freestanding bathtubs. The room has gone from being a purely functional space to one of relaxation and wellbeing. Consequently, the design of small bathrooms is somewhat ignored.

Designing for Small Bathrooms by Sivertsen and Berg, of Oslo and Akershus University of Applied Sciences, Norway, seeks to address this. Their research question was how to achieve the same sense of wellbeing in small bathrooms using universal design principles. It’s an open access article.

Note that the image does not indicate universal design features. A free-standing bath becomes unusable if grab bar support is needed in the future. The shower cubicle is small and not step free.

Abstract

This paper will focus on how to design a series of bathroom products that work well for small bathrooms using the principles of universal design. In home culture research, Quitzau and Rřpke has studied bathroom transformation from hygiene to well-being.

Bathrooms are one of the rooms in apartments that do not have good solutions for small spaces. This is unfortunate since it is the bathroom that has the least amount of space in urban apartments. This leads many people to have too little bathroom space due to furniture, toilets, showers, etc.

In today’s society, the bathroom is no longer just a purpose room. It is used for relaxation and wellness. This has led to a trend where large furniture, such as freestanding bathtubs, dominate today’s market. This in turn allows the few solutions that exist for small bathrooms to remain poorly conceived.

The research question was therefore how to create solutions for small bathrooms to get the same sense of well-being as in larger bathrooms through universal design principals. The study used the principles of universal design, observations and in-depth interviews.

This study can help to create a greater understanding of how to design small bathrooms. It will be relevant in a cross disciplinary field, including for professionals in plumbing, product design and technical solutions. This will also increase the well-being of users of the bathroom.

Analysis of kitchen design to include universal design

Australian developers claim apartment living is the top choice for downsizing to a home with level entry. However, level entry into the home is only one universal design feature. When it’s time to upgrade the kitchen, this this is also the time to include universal design features.

While apartments usually provide a level entry, the internal design of the dwelling may not support people as they age. Apartment kitchen design is an important consideration and is tackled in an article from Korea. Wheelchair circulation spaces are the key element which means the designs suit other mobility devices.

The title of the article is, Application of Universal Design in the Design of Apartment Kitchens. The article includes several drawings of different sized kitchen layouts based on the analysis of user reach range and other capabilities. Technical specifications are included.

The authors note specialised housing designs for people with specific limitations are still needed. A better alternative is to make mainstream housing more usable and universal for the highest number of people.

From the abstract

The purpose of this study is to suggest designs for apartment kitchens without major redesign for older people and people with disability. According to the concept of universal design, five criteria for analysis were developed based on research on the mobility of wheelchair users: clear floor space, work flow, universal reach range, area for later use, and safety. Using the criteria developed, the accessibility and usability of five kitchen subtypes were investigated through the analysis of architectural documents.

The result shows that modification of the locations of the refrigerator, sink, and range was mainly required for appropriate clear floor space, work triangle, and countertops. Alternatives to five unit types were suggested without the need to increase the current kitchen size.

A Useable Kitchen

A useable kitchen is a must and it is often the details of the design that make the difference. Once the overall working space has been thought through, the fittings become the focus.

Lifemark in New Zealand has partnered with Blum kitchen products that help make any kitchen more functional regardless of level of capability to open, grasp, or carry things. Drawers instead of cupboards are now standard in kitchen design, but storing items logically and tidily is another matter.

How to make your kitchen more usable covers workspaces and cabinetry, flooring, colour contrasting, taps and handles.

The House that Chris Built – his story

Chris Nicholls discusses the design and construction of his family home from the perspective of a wheelchair user. He explains why some design features, which are often referred to as disability features, are not necessarily needed by every wheelchair user or person with disability. He also explains which features were important and why. His story shows why we need to mandate basic access features so that people like Chris don’t have to fight the builder all the way. Too many times the builder thought “near enough was good enough”.

The slideshow presentation has many instructive photographs. You can also download the transcript of his presentation:

Chris Nicholls Transcript Word Chris Nicholls Transcript PDF

Universal Housing Design Guidelines from Landcom

The Landcom Universal Housing Design Guidelines were published in 2008, but the information is as relevant today as it was when first published. The designs are well researched with sample plans for all types of dwellings. The design process included costing the features. Any additional cost was found to be minimal if these features are considered at the outset of the design.

You can download the Universal Housing Design Guidelines as a Handbook or quick reference Factsheet. Apart from key design features it has a section on model houses – single and double storey detached homes. These Guidelines underpined the Livable Housing Design Guidelines (Silver and Gold levels) in 2012. The National Construction Code used these for the Livable Housing Design Standard.

2023 Update: Many of the features in these guidelines are in the National Construction Code and will take effect from October 2023. Most jurisdictions have agreed to adopt the Livable Housing Design Standard but are yet to do so. Queensland, ACT and Victoria were the first adopters.

Note: the Landcom Guidelines are difficult to find on the Landcom website. They are archived in Trove (The National Library of Australia). The housing guidelines were part of a suite of guidelines that aim for liveable neighbourhoods.

Category: Housing design

A tiny house can be accessible

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