Accessible Design Manual—Designing Buildings for the Elderly and People with Disabilities

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Features: ----This book is written for professionals engaged in barrier-free design, taking the implementation of the "Love Building Law" and the formulation of the "Welfare Town Construction Planning Regulations" as an opportunity. To assist administrative, institutional, and design personnel involved in welfare town planning in healthcare, medical, and welfare fields, the book extensively covers the history of welfare town construction by relevant departments in various countries, planning and design cases, as well as renovation plans, among other topics.----The term "elderly and people with disabilities" in the book title refers to the collective of all users of buildings and living spaces, including not only physically healthy citizens but also the elderly and infants. Moreover, it aims to enable severely disabled individuals to achieve self-reliance and participate in social activities, which is the core purpose of this book. In Japan, since the enactment of the "Basic Law for Persons with Disabilities," the concept of disability has also been expanded. To date, it has been further categorized into physical disabilities and intellectual disabilities, including difficult-to-treat patients, epilepsy patients, and individuals with mental disorders, among others. Chapter elaborates on the fundamental perspectives of planning and design based on the above considerations.----The second chapter of this book discusses the aspects of welfare town construction applicable to the elderly and people with disabilities, focusing on architectural and design dimensions. It particularly emphasizes the necessity for designers to actively understand the intentions of citizens and users to make their designs more aligned with the "emotions" of the elderly and people with disabilities. Additionally, it addresses what architectural and spatial barriers actually mean and how to design spaces, primarily from the perspectives of activity and information barriers, to provide specific explanations.----Chapter three introduces specific case studies designed for various types of elderly and people with disabilities. These cases were selected by the author based on their own judgments of different disabilities, with a focus not on facility purposes but on cases reported in various media, and efforts were made to collect diverse barrier-free facilities. Naturally, some of these cases include overall layouts that are relatively ideal but still require consideration in specific areas. These issues are not only challenges in current design but also part of the process of implementing the "Welfare Town Construction Planning Regulations."----Chapter four presents methods for renovating the majority of existing urban facilities, which is one of the goals of this book. First, based on the "Love Building Law," this chapter introduces standard cases that comply with the equipment standards, cites some less ideal cases, and recommends innovative improvement proposals based on standard models.