My friend, Tabitha Johnson, is the K-4 librarian at The School at Columbia University. She pointed out that in order to get into the corner reading room in the library, you have to navigate the doorway and then a quick turn. This may prove difficult for folks with crutches or in wide wheelchairs.
Yes, I agree. This would limit the passage for those with wide wheelchairs. It would be important to find out what the standard width would be in order to make certain if this entry is compliant.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a weird space! I wonder if the room addition was just an afterthought; it doesn't seem to be well thought-out. I think the solution you mentioned in your later post is the most obvious one. I also wonder if removing the tiny glass part of the door on the right, thereby widening the doorway, would help people to avoid running into that wall when they enter the room. That way the school might not have to cut an entirely new frame for the door.
ReplyDelete@Phil: It would certainly behoove the school to figure out the width of a standard wheelchair (and maybe even add 12" on top of that for extra-wide devices) and use that through out the building so that all public spaces can be easily accessed.
ReplyDelete@Pari: It turns out the tiny glass part of the door on the right swings open and provides a little more wiggle room. However, it would necessitate a chair-bound person to have someone tall enough and mobile enough to reach the lever near the top of the glass door to release it from its locked position. It seems crazy that the doorway wasn't just designed to be more thoughtful, flexible, universal in the first place...
The configuration of this passage/doorway does seem a bit odd. I do agree with you and Allison that broadening the doorway by merely removing the small glass piece and its surrounding wood frame, would seem most logical and one might assume most cost effective. Unfortunately, the problem isn't singularly the physical design of such a classroom, rather the logic and thinking behind the creation of such schools. Sacrificing the possibility of having children who are wheelchair-bound grace the halls of our schools and potentially enrich the lives those around them- as has been the case in my personal experiences- for some chic, hip, new, modern design, is deeply saddening and disheartening. We must change the thinking from the administration on down and only then will the doors really open.
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