You’re faced with the task of modifying a home that will meet accessibility needs. How do you integrate the physical needs of access with the visceral need for beauty? How do you avoid the equity-destroying ravages of the “hospital chic” aesthetic?
Many people have the impression that design requires a rare talent. Anyone can actually learn the basics of aesthetics; it’s not that much of a mystery. Stuff that’s ugly is more the result of not caring and of not using your eyes than it is from a lack of innate ability.
Start with what’s already there. Let the existing structure and materials be your guides. Pick up cues of texture and color and scale and use them in the choices you make, whether inside or outside. Play it safe, sticking more closely to what is already in place, and you are more assured of success.
Wheelchair Ramps
Let’s take an exterior wheelchair ramp as an example. This is one of the best ways there is to make a real visual mess of the outside of the house. Whatever you do, care about the personality of your house to the street, to your neighbors, to the people who experience it as they drive by, and to the people you might someday want to sell it to.
Wheelchair ramps are a challenge to begin with because to be “pushable,” they must be at a minimum amount of slope. Allow for 12 feet of horizontal travel for each foot of vertical rise, or a 1:12 slope; this is the generally accepted minimum standard. At this degree of slope, building codes require handrails, which can be difficult to integrate into the existing aesthetic of your home.
But if you have the space, use a 1:20 slope; most building codes don’t insist on railings with this ratio. This slope is also much easier to wheel or walk up and down and, of course, you save money on the handrails.
At 1:20, it could be necessary to build 60 feet of ramp to get up a three foot porch, more space than you might have leading to the front entry. This amount of rise is more possible with 1:12, especially if you do a switchback where the ramp runs in two sections, with a level interim landing partway along. This design hugs closer to the building, rather than severely damaging the aesthetic of the house by sticking a huge tongue of a ramp straight out from it.
For a house with siding, consider using similar shape for the front-facing wall of the ramp. Match the material and the width and the color. Perhaps there is a fence on the property with a certain rhythm of vertical supports; you could take that structure as a cue for the ramp wall.
Landscaping is a great way to hide something that is unavoidably aesthetically offensive. You can integrate the ramp into the gardens, behind some shrubbery or a hedge, or plant a beautiful flowering vine to run along the handrails.
Your home will retain its aesthetic character, and anyone using the ramp will feel beautiful, too!
See Related Articles
Read Wheelchair Ramp "Hide and Seek" to learn more about how to disguise a wheelchair ramp around your home.
Learn more about wheelchair lift options, in Three Wheelchair Lift Options to Make Your Home More Accessible.
