Barrier-free doors have great added value: they make it easier for people with physical disabilities or senior citizens to access buildings and all rooms independently. The social and personal benefits of barrier-free doors are enormous. They are therefore used particularly frequently in public buildings such as schools and public authorities. This also means that future additional costs due to necessary conversion measures can be avoided.
Aileen Kiefner tells us that added value, benefits and design can also be harmonised with low-barrier doors. She was a working student at GARANT and wrote her bachelor's thesis on the subject of barrier-free doors.
Why do you think accessibility is an important issue?
In 2030, around a third of the German population will be aged 60 or over. This means that older people will make up the majority of user groups dependent on barrier-free environments in the future.
In my opinion, what is often forgotten are the many advantages that barrier-free solutions offer for all people. For example, a wide doorway and a threshold-free passageway are necessary for a wheelchair user to be able to pass through the door at all. However, this design is also a great advantage for people with a lot of luggage, a pushchair or shopping.
If the everyday lives of all people are included in the planning, many sensible barrier-free designs are created that can make life easier for many people - regardless of whether they are directly dependent on them or not.
When it comes to accessibility, there should be a general rethink: away from the typical image of the wheelchair user and towards a solution that can have advantages for many and does not exclude any groups. This is why accessibility is such an important issue.
What makes a door barrier-free and what barriers are there for doors?
- the width or height of the passageway,
- the positioning and design of the operating element,
- the colour design of the entire door element,
- the route to the door,
- the door threshold,
- the effort required to operate the door.
It is therefore particularly important to know the future user group of the door so that barriers can first be recognised and then avoided.
Where are such doors, especially in use?
In public areas such as public offices, it is particularly important to ensure effortless access for everyone. Solving this problem in the form of a single door is usually difficult, as different user groups require different accessibility solutions.
The simplest example of this is the height of the operating element, which is moved from the standard height of 1050 mm to 850 mm OFF for wheelchair users. This allows the person in the wheelchair to reach the handle easily. However, this makes it more difficult for people who are not dependent on a wheelchair to operate the handle and open the door. Conflicts of this kind arise time and again with regard to universal design (= one design for all). These need to be avoided as sensibly as possible.
You have created a concept for the modular construction of barrier-free doors. What improvements or advantages are hidden behind it?
On the one hand, the customer should gain a quick overview of the topic, enabling them to find the optimum solution for their door. On the other hand, GARANT employees should also gain an all-round view of the topic in order to be able to provide faster and better information about the various solutions.
There are conflicts, particularly with regard to universal design, which have to be weighed up and resolved accordingly depending on the situation and user group. The modular concept is intended to simplify the complexity of the solutions and make it easier to decide on implementation.
What do you think people should pay particular attention to when choosing barrier-free doors?
The design of the door should not exclude any user groups. You should therefore always make sure that all circumstances have been taken into account. The subsequent user should be able to pass through the door, but this must not make it difficult for another user to pass through at the same time.
Can barrier-free doors fulfil all legal requirements while also "looking good"? Do design compromises have to be made because of the function?
"Looking good" is always a very subjective perception, but I would still answer the question with "yes". In my opinion, there is no need to compromise on design. The only thing is that the design options are limited, especially in the area of glass doors.
For people with impaired vision, it is necessary for doors to stand out from their surroundings through strong contrast. For glass doors, this means that safety markings must be applied at least at eye and knee height. This can take the form of stripes or lines, but patterns are also permitted here. In this case, there are very precise specifications as to which implementations are to be categorised as barrier-free and which are not. It is therefore important to know the specifications and to find an effective and visually appealing implementation variant on this basis.
We would like to thank Aileen for this interesting interview and wish her all the best.
You too can shape a future without barriers
Barrier-free doors have added value for everyone: although people with physical disabilities and the elderly benefit in particular, travellers, families and other people also enjoy greater convenience.
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