To take a short example, if you have a ramp for wheelchairs, it cannot be to a lateral entrance... It must be the same as everyone uses... Or it is segregation and you don't have your permit !
These parts are validated by associations of various disabled persons, on plans for the permit, but also at the end of works, as they test inter-phone heights, lifts, signalization, desks, chairs, etc. For lighting appliances there are rules for color spectrum, frequencies (epilepsy), directness, etc... Even door bells have (read should have) the names and levels in braille for blind people...
These changes cost millions and weren't done because mostly of the price... Now it's law ! Still, it applies only to new or to refurbished buildings, mostly public ones ! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
However, having spent several years pushing a buggy around, I've seen rather a lot of side entrances. And back entrances. And dustbins.
And I do see that segregated entrances can be rather demeaning.
But then I'm a partisan of the Segway sort of chair with the wheels that can climb a stair ! Exoskeleton techniques are much better then the wheel chair... And when you take the amount of money spent in regulation, you could "give" one of those to each who needs one !
About 3 to 5 square meters are used in each new apartment built to follow regulations for the wheelchair that's a mean 8 000€ for each flat! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
Apparently the city offered free use of the vaporetto (I think Line 1 at least is wheelchair-accessible) as a compromise, but was turned down. If the offer had included their use anywhere in the city, I think they were really foolish to turn it down; if the offer was just between Piazzale Roma and the train station, they were probably right, though it might have been worth trying to negotiate something more generous instead.
I suppose it makes sense just as a matter of principle,
Well if you let the builders make an exception for this bridge now, why not the library they're building next week? Even if there's no possibility of anyone with a disability using the bridge this should be a point over which there should be no possibility of surrender. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
The same point goes for "green" design, that, for yet, isn't really seen as "architecture" but more as "painted over" techniques in many cases! Sustainable schools contests, here, are too often a "collage" of what is supposed to be "green" techniques, as a windmill, plus a wooden facade, plus solar cells, plus, plus, plus... And the final building isn't even well oriented or the wood comes from 2000 km! (In Guadeloupe, the wood comes from Guyana, goes to "Le Havre" (france) then goes back to Guadeloupe...!!!)
Sustainability is more about the people... And that part is too often forgotten, because you need to work with associations or local people, while using the latest fashionable technique will get you in a famed magazine, even if the space isn't really usable and/or re-usable in time for other functions...
This is a wonderful world <music> "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
