Codes To Live By

What was your experience with the various requirements to support human activities and needs?
While researching through the Federal Reserve and Interior Graphic Standards documents our group found it very interesting how much thought went into meeting the needs of humans. There were specific codes on things like railings, protruding objects, chairs heights and turning spaces for wheelchairs. I think it is very important to break apart spaces into codes and standards not only for safety reasons but also for accessibility purposes. The most important thing we learned while researching the codes, ergonomics and proxemics of our group’s bus shelter and shelter buses were that these codes are in place for everyone not just the average human. For instance just the other day I was walking down the sidewalk when suddenly there was a two-inch drop to the connecting sidewalks and I lost my balance and almost fell. I believe this was because the designer for the pathways did not follow the specific code for making surface heights distinguishable by color or texture. The Interior Graphic Standards book had diagrams showing people of all ages in different positions and also included height requirements for the max and min handicap persons reach.

What would you recommend to designers about changes necessary to better accommodate varying abilities?
We would recommend to designers that before you begin to design your space try to think about all types of people that would be experiencing or using your space. Take every part of your design into consideration and look up codes for things from height requirements to safety precautions. Also, make your design versatile so it is easy to alter to accommodate human activities.

How do codes help in design?
Codes help us to design for the community that we live in today. They provide us the standards of humans and their activities while allowing us to break the limit on how far we can go to help others.

How do you anticipate codes will change your work as a designer?
The codes that we have learned over the past two days have already helped us tremendously because they have forced us to look at specific flaws throughout our group’s designs. Later on we hope to learn more about different codes, as they will continue to change and impact the way we view design.