Universal Design Measure Research of Washroom in House- A Case Study on House in Taipei -

• Main Authors: ZHUANG,SHI-XIAN, 莊士賢
• Other Authors: WENG,CAI-QIONG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/pz7xut

碩士 === 中華科技大學 === 建築工程與環境設計研究所 === 101 === The bathroom is known as the most dangerous space in a common household. As people grow older the size of the human body also changes accordingly, creating diversified needs.( For example, elderly and handicapped people who is disabled and children with insufficient danger awareness ) In 1950,“Barrier Free Environment” started to play an important role internationally, it later developed into the “Universal Design” known today. Even though the current related researches in Taiwan are mostly done according to the Accessibility Regulations, the aspect of bathroom universal detail design scale still lacks necessary research. The presented research focuses on the metropolitan area of Taipei (space scale affected by commodity prices), using a common household bathroom inspection as target, to analysis the factors of universalization. The research focuses on four groups of participants, including the elderly (above the age of 65), handicapped people (mainly on a wheelchair), normal people and children (between the age of 7 to 12), analyzing the difference of mental/physical needs and body size of the users and cross analysis the relationships between each factor and build a bathroom matching the size of the universal requirements. The research discovered that due to space restrictions and population density (3 to 4 people per household) of the Taipei Metropolitan Area, small sized home became very popular ( average size around 21 to 30 square foot). The average size of the bathroom is only 1 to 1.5 square foot. Even though the implemented bathroom facilities are able to fulfill functional needs, it also created problems such as insufficient space which leads to danger. The research propose that the degree of comfortability and safety of the bathroom will differ according to the diversified need of the user. In order to increase the efficiency of the bathroom, it is necessary to consider variable differences, study and plan according to the six main factors for designing a universal bathroom and set up necessary hierarchy according safety characteristics ( the anti-slipping for bathroom floors, height difference for the doorsill and reducing the temperature difference ). According to the using requirements and human body size requirements, the bathroom space is divided into the space area ( for example, doorsill, walkway, and turning space) and the facility area ( for example, toilet, washbasin, tub and shower space ). An universal inspection list are established to provide proper size II advises. The design is requested to at least fulfill the requirements of the bathroom advice to reach the minimum requirements of universal standards. After analyzing two different case studies, the research discovered that, as the years go by, the bathroom suits layout increased from an one set layout to an one and half set layout ( A half set includes, toilet, washbasin, shower nozzle and etc.) The design layout often lacks ancillary facilities, users have to work with the current design or turn to others for support. Under the condition of maintaining the current bathroom space structure and user characteristic, the necessary requirements cannot be totally fulfilled. Some standards that can be easily fulfilled are the doorsills ( implement removable slopes for easy accessibility ), handrails (removable, can be removed to increase space when not needed ), color light source ( change tiles and light bulb color), floor ( add mats to prevent slipping ), bathtub ( implement anti-slip cushion, removable platform and shower curtain ), cabinet ( lower the height ). The parts that are more difficult are the thermostat (device capacity and wire layout problem), washbasin ( the height is difficult to fix, a stool can be used to increase height ) and shower space ( need to replace with bathtub space) In the current bathroom space, door and doorsill, shower space, washbasin and turning space are harder to implement. The improvement will lead to costs caused by increasing facilities and space pipeline repairments. Currently, Taiwan does not have related universal regulations and rules to enforce it. We can only advise users, designers and architects to implement the inspection list during the repairment stage and new construction design stage as a reference for universal bathroom space layout and achieve the design concept for building a life time home.