Chapter 17 Designing the Home

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Chapter 17Designing the Home

• Dr. Katie Cahill
• Science 295

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Designing for mother and child

• Child proofing
• Not having or blocking off stairs
• Covering hard corners/ objects
• Avoiding hot items
• Design for pregnancy
• Everyday tasks become more difficult
• Reduced reach, back pain, reduced mobility,
  frequent urination

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Designing for mother and child

• Most difficult tasks for pregnant women
• Picking up objects
• Walking upstairs
• Driving a car
• Getting in and out of the car
• Using seat belts
• Ironing
• Reaching high shelves
• Getting in and out of bed
• Using public toilets

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Designing for impaired and elderly persons

• During illness, the home serves as a temporary
  care facility
• Design to ensure comfort, ease of movement
• Account for wheelchair, etc.
• Remodeling
• Normally necessary to ensure adequate space in
  passageways
• Taking future needs into consideration during the
  building process can save time later on

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Access, walkways, steps, and stairs

• Passageways
• Flat walking surface without barriers
• Doorways wide enough for wheelchairs to fit
  through and turn
• Floor should provide friction for safe stepping
• Straight hallways are best
• Proper illumination is important
• No steps
• Impossible for wheelchair users
• Cause many falls
• Lips on doorways and shower entrances
• Loose rugs and carpets
• Elevators are the best option for the disabled

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Access, walkways, steps and stairs

• Doors
• Must be easy to open and close
• Clear space in front for access
• Exterior doors should open to the outside for
  fast escape in case of a fire
• Controls must be at appropriate levels and easy
  to push
• Push bars and lever handles are easier than knobs
• A curtain can sometimes replace interior doors

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Kitchen

• Work flow in the kitchen
• work triangle underlies the major design
  concepts
• 3 primary areas
• Storing
• Food preparation
• Cleaning

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Kitchen

• Kitchen design components
• Facilitate workflow at the most used work areas
  (serving, preparing, cleaning)
• Items should be stored near point of use
• Storage facilities should be easy to reach
• Shallow shelves allow for easy reach
• Retrieving items should not require a lot of body
  torsion
• Hand workspaces should be at elbow height
• Stove, oven, refrigerator, etc should be at no
  bend height
• Traffic should not cut through the work triangle

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Bedroom, bath and toilet

• Bedroom
• Average person spend 1/3 of the day in the
  bedroom
• Bed should be at a proper height
• Must be large enough to allow for maneuvering
• Shelving should be easily reachable
• Access for medical supplies
• Near a bathroom
• Emergency exit access

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Bedroom, bath and toilet

• Bathroom
• Ergonomic design is important because it is
  necessary for healthy living
• Consist of bathtub, shower, toilet, and washbasin
• Many are difficult for disabled to used due to
  narrow doorways and tight spaces
• Tub and shower
• Sites of many accidents due to slipperiness
• Stepping over high sides is difficult for elderly
• Handrails and a low enclosure rim prevent
  accidents

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Bedroom, bath and toilet

• Control handles
• Difficult for impaired people
• Standardization of hot and cold controls
• Washbasin
• Proper height and close
• Large faucets reduce usable area
• Toilet
• Suitable toilet design, shape, height and sizing
  differ between western culture and other areas of
  the world
• Hand rails are helpful for the disabled

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Light, heating and cooling

• Lighting
• Windows are important visual and emotional
  connections to the environment
• Automatic lights are recommended in passageways
• Manual switches should be easy to use and at hip
  height
• Many electrical lamps are difficult to use
• Hidden switches which are tricky to operate
• Climate control
• Automatic settings are preferable

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Home office

• Office at home
• Modern technologies have allowed for the
  workplace to move from the office to the home
• Similar engineering principles apply to the home
• Furniture should support your body
• Necessary equipment must be available to
  facilitate tasks without overloading the workers
  capabilities.
• Proper lighting must be available.
• Proper thermal and acoustic climate
• Proper working aesthetics