So What Makes For A Hall of Fame Venue? Wheelchair Perspective

Earlier, I was watching this video on art and architecture, and it got me thinking about the design of spaces and our interactions with them. A lot of the time, accessibility features are an awkward, tacked on afterthought, rather than an integral part of the design process. And when interacting with spaces like these, I feel just like that- awkward, out-of-place, an afterthought.

Often overlooked are issues of scale and flow. There will be beautiful panoramic views from windows whose sills are at the height of my shoulder. Elegant paintings and photos will adorn the walls over my head. Chairs and sofas will be drawn together in cozy conversational groups- with no room for me to draw my chair up next to them. Narrow hallways with sharp corners have more than once lead to someone running straight into my lap! Even the acoustics of PA systems are always subtly blurred by the time they reach my ears. And if it's this bad at wheelchair height, I can only imagine what it must be like for people with dwarfism or other restricted height disorders.

A personal case in point: the apartment I lived in previous to my current one was a unit in a modern building that had been designed specifically for ADA access. When I moved to my current apartment, in a much older (historic!) building, even though we had to jury rig a few things to make it work, I felt oddly far more comfortable and "in place" here than I ever did in my old apartment. It took me a whole month to realize that it was the windows that made the difference- my old apartment had high sills, and I had to crane my neck to look out them, much less open them. My new apartment, on the other hand, has lovely vintage French windows, and I can gaze to my heart's content.

It's no small feat to find a design style that seamlessly incorporates wheelchair height design scale with the more standard scale- which is why it's all the more impressive when I've seen it done. And, by fluke or by deliberate design, I have seen it done. Unfortunately, most of the examples that come to mind at the moment were from my time in Tokyo, (not the most accessible place on Earth, but when they design for access, they really design for access!) but I'm going to make it a personal mission to hunt down some in Seattle to post here!