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Mikiten Architecture

Shelteraging In Place

9/1/2020

3 Comments

 
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Maybe the portmanteau “Shelteraging” In Place doesn’t roll off the tongue, but it serves our purpose here to consider how Sheltering in Place can give us a new perspective on Aging In Place, and by extension, Universal Design. 

We’ve all lamented the ways Shelter In Place orders have stifled our freedom. In the uncertainty of Shutdown Week Two, a client mourned the ability to hop in the car to get milk, walk the streets for fresh air, or socialize. 

Her statement struck a chord: These are limitations are routine for people with disabilities and many of our elders. Most of us will experience limitations and increasing isolation as we retire and age. The impediments in these cases are not a virus that we’re unable to battle, but the built environment that we can change.

As a wheelchair-riding architect I can relate. Growing up with a weak bone condition, I spent many 6-week stretches of my childhood in traction with broken bones. Not only did I not go outside, to the store, or to see friends, but I stayed in our living room the whole time. These stay-at-home orders feel peculiarly familiar.


In my homebound stretches, I felt invisible to the world. There was no social media or cell phones, and our landline phone was out of reach on the kitchen wall. Once I healed and got out of traction, I needed help to go almost anywhere - the built environment of the 1960’s and 70’s didn’t exactly say “come and join the rest of us”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made people invisible to each other in a similar way.  

When we venture into the subdued public realm these days, there’s an eerie sense of emptiness combined with a feeling that behind all these quiet facades there are families and roommates huddled together, waiting, not daring to go outside. Their presence is palpable. 

Yet in “normal” times of bustling street life, there are still many people behind those quiet facades to whom the built environment extends no invitation to join public life. Out of sight, they are too easily out of mind.

Some are the elders of our community who retire, gradually go out less, develop mild and then more severe disabilities, and for whom even going to that favorite neighborhood restaurant becomes too much of a chore. Some are people with disabilities for whom the unpredictability of accessibility in cafes, restrooms, and stores keeps them from adventuring out.  

Lest we think the ADA has fixed the public realm, know that even in California, at the supposed leading edge of accessibility, we have a long way to go. I made birthday lunch plans at a highly recommended restaurant in SF this year. We called ahead to confirm accessibility, especially since my son was also temporarily using a wheelchair after a car accident. We got there and found three steps at the front door!

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Their idea of “access” was having a sign and a bell (mounted at about 63 inches no less!) to ring for help and have someone carry us inside. This is 29 years after the ADA, folks. We rang the bell, scolded the manager, and went elsewhere. This is not a rare event.

But people are also stuck in their own homes. Clients of ours with MS and other conditions have gone from ambulatory to using a wheelchair within the span of a year or two, needing elevators added to their homes and bathrooms and kitchens remodeled. They become increasingly invisible to their friends, and increasingly alone. Their physical abilities changed, but it’s actually their houses that “dis-abled” them.

Defining disability is contextual; millions of us are being temporarily disabled by COVID-19’s presence in the environment, but steps, inaccessible checkout stands, and unusable restrooms disable about 34 million Americans every day. When the pandemic lifts, the disabling conditions of the built environment will still be there.

Architects can’t make a COVID vaccine, but we are the most powerful people in the world when it comes to changing the built environment. Here are three ways we can start to fix things: 

1. Round up for access. Architects often ask me how they can design for better access without special expertise in disability. Fair question.The simple answer is that when in doubt, focus on quantity. The amount of time I’ve sat in nearly empty 5-stall restrooms, waiting for the ambulatory occupant of the single accessible stall to finish is insane, including at the AIAEB offices and especially at airports and stadiums. A few feet for another accessible stall, included at the beginning of a project, would serve not just people with disabilities, but parents with kids and strollers as well. And if it’s a bonus stall, it doesn’t have to be a “perfect” accessible stall - just add what ever space you can. There are plenty of people with walkers or more compact wheelchairs like mine for whom a four-foot-wide stall with grab bars would be a welcome second option. The Baby Boomer wave is aging, so the number of accessible theater seats, parking spaces, and accessible stalls needs to increase too. Most standards we use date back to demographics research from the 1950s-1970s. So figure out how many of a component you need by code, and then round up. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to make this work during Schematic Design.

2. Come together as a profession to promote Universal Design Ordinances. Alameda adopted one, Berkeley is working on it, and many other Bay Area cities are considering it. Sometimes these apply to tract homes (requiring things like zero-step entries), sometimes to multifamily and commercial developments (requiring more accessibility than the California Building Code and ADA do), and sometimes they encompass the public realm, improving wayfinding, safety, and flexibility on streets and in parks.

3. Focus on homes. Sheltering in place is revealing how our homes accommodate us - or fail us. Take the opportunity to promote ideas about aging in place. Our residential clients are a captive audience right now, and we can help them future-proof their homes. Remind them that they will be home full-time again as they retire and age. Let’s make those homes comfortable, accommodating, and easy to enter and exit. Think of how escaping the stress of The Shutdown with a cup of coffee in the morning sun of our rear decks can bring profound joy these days. Let’s make sure those simple and deep experiences are always available for people.

The economy will reopen. Architects can learn from our COVID-19 isolation by not forgetting the invisible people who want and deserve a chance to enjoy and contribute to our shared world. We can make a more equitable environment by opening buildings to everyone. We can’t change COVID-19, but we can change the world - and inoculate ourselves against disabling conditions - with the next project that hits our drawing boards.

Do these things and you’ll also be doing your Future Self a favor, since one day you’ll be the 80-year-old retired architect, sitting behind that quiet facade, wanting to feel accommodated and welcome when you go out. Take design action now and you’ll thank yourself later for a world that says “come and join the rest of us”.
3 Comments

Toeing the Line

9/17/2018

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It happened again. I recently got an email in which the sender wrote “tow the line”. Then, minutes later, someone asked me why the code has maximum toe clearance dimensions. Let’s clear up both toe problems once and for all.
First and more importantly (bad grammar is so irksome, isn’t it?), it’s “toe the line”. Don’t confuse it with nautical tow lines…it’s about feet. The phrase originated with soldiers lining up in the military or runners in track and field events, where officials would call out “Toe the line!” to get the runners ready. Either way, it’s the digits of the feet, lined up in a row, like this:

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Although I’m glad to talk about this little phraseological pet peeve of mine, not many people ask me about it, but many DO ask me about the other toe line: The area under a sink or other element that provides space for a wheelchair rider’s toes and foot rests. Here’s the toe clearance diagram from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California Building Code (CBC):

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And what confuses many people about it is that the toe clearance is 6” max. People ask “Why not give more space for people’s toes?” That’s fine, I say. Toes deserve all the space we can give them. But despite Figure 11B-306.2 (above) looking like a counter or implying a lavatory, the code is referring here to maneuvering space; it’s telling you the depth of toe-level space you can include in the 60-inch “Circular Space” as defined in 11B-304.3.1. (By the way, this is what most people just call turning space…or very inaccurately call “the 60 inch turning radius”. Another pet peeve of mine…that would be a 120 inch diameter!)

Here’s a diagram that’s more helpful for thinking about the turning space. Imagine this pile of forms sliding in and out of a restroom, kitchen, work areas, etc. That’s where the 9 inch high, 6" maximum  depth toe space (and the corresponding 27” maximum knee space height) should be applied.

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The following is how the code describes this in CBC Chapter 11B-306.2.4 (but since there are no accompanying figures, it’s usually overlooked):

“Space extending greater than 6 inches (152 mm) beyond the available knee clearance at 9 inches (229 mm) above the finish floor or ground shall not be considered toe clearance.”

​This says "available" knee clearance. In my opinion, if you don't have an obstruction limiting the knee clearance, you can claim more than 6" of horizontal toe clearance.

Bonus Tip: A lavatory is not a sink…

A related confusion is that the CBC differs from the ADA in sinks. We have these two definitions (Chapter 2) in California:

LAVATORY. A fixed bowl or basin with running water and drainpipe, as in a toilet or bathing facility, for washing or bathing purposes. (As differentiated from the definition of “Sink”.)

SINK. A fixed bowl or basin with running water and drainpipe, as in a kitchen or laundry, for washing dishes, clothing, etc. (As differentiated from the definition of “Lavatory”.)

So whereas kitchen sinks and work counters need to have the clearances shown above, a bathroom lavatory in California needs a thinner front edge, to allow for more ability to get in nice and close. To remember this, picture someone in a wheelchair washing their face in the bathroom - they need to get in closer than when they’re reaching out and washing dishes in a kitchen sink.
Here’s the CBC figure showing the lavatory toe space requirement - figure (c):
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The requirement is for 29 inches clear at the front of the lavatory. Since the maximum top-of-lavatory dimension is 34 inches, this results in a sink that’s at most five inches high at the front. This is a very difficult requirement to meet with a wall-hung sink; probably 95% of the ones on the market that say they are “ADA Compliant” have a front edge that’s over five inches tall. So beware those little wheelchair symbols on cut sheets! They often don’t work in the Golden State!


Duravit, Wet Style, and Barclay have California-complying sinks, and with great contemporary designs to boot (including some by Philippe Starck), and many have drains in the very rear, which is a plus for added knee space:
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It’s temping to just do a countertop with a shallow bowl in it to meet the depth requirement. Resist this in high-use public restrooms, because the countertop inevitably winds up splashed and perennially wet. Not only does this look messy, but it’s a nightmare for the sleeves of people using wheelchairs, shorter people, and kids. But if you must, set your countertop below 34 inches so that if the undermount sinks you specified wind up being value engineered out during construction and replaced with self-rimming ones, you don’t wind up out of compliance…the required 34” maximum measurement is to the sink rim, NOT the countertop.

As I always say, we should take any opportunity to provide MORE space than the code minimums require. If you can provide more knee space, then someone in an electric wheelchair with a joystick out front, or someone in a high-seated scooter who pulls up sideways and needs more knee space when they turn their seat 90 degrees is going to thank you. Who knows - that might just be you or a family member one day. So let’s make better, more flexible architecture…and not just toe the line.
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A Social History of Accessibility

2/6/2017

3 Comments

 
Ever wonder how accessibility requirements and the ADA came into being? It was a long and sometimes terrifying journey, inspired Civil Rights struggles, that led to the ADA’s vision of full inclusion for all people.

The 14th Amendment and  Eugenics
A long and ugly history preceded any legal protection for people with disabilities (see the timeline  I put together at the end of the article). The 14th Amendment gave citizenship and “Equal Protection” to all people born in the US…way back in 1868! Yet in the 1920’s, the Eugenics movement spread around the globe. Francis Galton analyzed the intelligence of England’s upper classes and determined that “it would be quite practicable to produce a highly-gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations”. 

That might sound innocent, but the Eugenics Record Office in Long Island collected data on “undesirable” physical and intellectual traits, and by 1931, 29 states had sterilization laws that allowed doctors to “eliminate negative traits.” This resulted in the forced sterilization of 64,000 US citizens. It started with people with disabilities, expanding to people committing “crimes” like promiscuity or poverty. No Equal Protection there!
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The chilling poster here is just one example of the movement’s propaganda. Germany actually worked with California in the 30’s to learn about formalizing Nazi social cleansing programs.

The Civil Rights Act and Class Status
It was 86 years after the 14th Amendment that Brown vs. the Board of Education finally abolished racial segregation in schools, and another ten before the Civil Rights Act gave deeper protections.
One legal legacy from the Civil Rights Act is “Class Status”. This defines a group and enables the government to establish protections for the members. These applied to race, color, religion, national origin, sex…but nothing to people with disabilities. 

It wasn’t until 1973, 105 years after the 14th Amendment, that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act required equal treatment of people with disabilities…but only for federally-funded programs. So for two decades after the Civil Rights Act, people with disabilities could still be legally marginalized. It wasn’t until 1988 that the Fair Housing Amendments Act established people with disabilities as a Protected Class, and laid the foundation for the ADA.

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Separate Is Not Equal
This photo of people protesting against inaccessible public transportation is one of my favorites. One sign reads “I can’t even get to the back of the bus”. Disability Rights protests proliferated, modeled on the Civil Rights movement, with sit-ins, building occupations, marches, and people chaining themselves to buses, demanding equal treatment.

This highlights the Separate But Equal concept that Oliver Wendell Holmes’s Supreme Court in 1896 said was ‘good enough’. The resulting Jim Crow laws formalized segregation until 1954’s Brown vs. Board of Education desegregated schools. And to think…I attended Holmes High School in Texas without knowing this. Ugh.

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Unfortunately, Separate But Equal sowed an idea that still has roots today: That a back-door ramp or a separate accessible restroom is fine; that people should be thankful to get into buildings at all, and not complain about how.

​We all know that civil rights laws don’t necessarily mean real-world equality. Similarly, Section 504 and the ADA didn’t automatically create full accessibility for people with disabilities; equal employment, equal public transportation, and equal facilities in buildings are still lacking. To fix that, we need to first accept the simple reality that everyone’s needs are different, and then agree that it’s not good enough to design some things that are accessible and some that are not. Instead, let’s strive for Universal Design as the ideal, and together we’ll create an environment that is elegantly human and fundamentally just.

3 Comments

Counter Measures

2/17/2016

1 Comment

 
​As a wheelchair rider, I often encounter problems at service counters. Sometimes it's a design shortcoming, but often it's a management issue that crops up after final inspection. The CBC defines four related counters: service counters, check out aisles, point-of-sale devices, and dining surfaces. Let’s look at some common problems, and then talk about how architects can prevent them.

Design Issues

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Here's a service counter at an Amtrak station I was at recently. A tiny accessible counter is on the left, but the agent can't see it or reach it, so there’s no place for an actual transaction between a wheelchair riding customer and the agent!
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​Here's what it looked like to use from my point of view.​ Pretty useless.

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Changes of Occupancy

11/18/2015

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A Note to Architects...

When you’re working out occupancies on existing buildings, keep in mind that any change in occupancy is considered an Alteration (Section 202 Definitions). That means that even if your client is just doing cosmetic work that wouldn’t normally be an Alteration (such as normal maintenance, reroofing, painting, or mechanical and electrical system changes), the change in occupancy alone classifies it as an Alteration.
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Updating the Image of Disability

11/1/2015

2 Comments

 
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A picture speaks volumes.

Look at the tired old symbol on the left. It's static, rigid, and passive. The person is angular and stiff. Stuck, you might say.

Now look at the image on the right.
Active.
Self-determined.
Empowered.
In motion.
And rounded like a person. 

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    Erick Mikiten, AIA, LEED-AP

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Mikiten Architecture  |  2415 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA  94710  |  510-540-7111
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