A {tag:studenci} from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk designed an apartment for a wheelchair user and her caregiver. The student's proposal is a comfortable space with zoning and a room for rehabilitation. Adequate width of corridors and an elevator make it easy to move around, and specially adapted furniture allows the person to function freely.
The project was carried out in the Interior Design Studio II led by Prof. Remigiusz Grochal and Benjamin Straszewski.
According to the assumptions of my project, the residents are a married couple, where one of the partners uses a wheelchair. The main goal of the task was to design a space adapted to the needs of a person with disabilities, but in such a way that the caregiver would also feel comfortable. One of the most important factors in determining the functional arrangement was to obtain sufficiently large gaps and fields for wheelchair mobility," explains the author.
The apartment has solutions adapted to a person in a wheelchair
© Olive Kapusta
free communication
Communication between rooms was designed to be as easy as possible for the residents. For this reason, the student placed an elevator in the apartment for easy access to the floor. It is located in a place that allows the rehabilitation room and the bedroom to be connected, without having to go through other rooms. The elevator can be boarded from two sides, making it much easier to function.
First floor plan, there is a special elevator in the apartment
© Olive Kapusta
The interior of the apartment is kept in warm tones, finished in wood with strong contrasting elements in black and green, which mark the different zones. On the first floor is the living area with spaces for receiving guests, and the first floor is the residents' private zone with a comfortable, large bedroom and a bathroom.
rehabilitation room
One of the semi-private rooms is the rehabilitation room. The author deliberately placed it on the first floor to separate it from the private space associated with rest and relaxation. Another reason for such a decision was the aspect of the appearance of a third person - the rehabilitator and the desire for privacy.
The apartment has a special room for rehabilitation
© Olive Kapusta
storage space
According to the student, another major problem to be solved was to design a wheelchair-adapted storage space throughout the apartment. The cabinets have built-in systems that allow a person with disabilities to make full use of them. These are mechanisms mounted in the higher parts of the cabinets, which can be pulled down to a level convenient for the user with the help of cords. Shelves in the lower parts of the cabinets are permanently built-in to a maximum height of one hundred and twenty centimeters.
Pull-out work surfaces in the kitchen make work easier
© Olive Kapusta
comfortable kitchen and bathrooms
The designed kitchen meets the conditions needed for all residents to function comfortably. The heights of the countertops have been varied for the comfort of each person. The designer proposed such amenities as a pull-out worktop at a height of seventy-five centimeters and a mobile container with drawers designed for lighter items. The container has been placed under the countertop, on which the electric board is located. Thanks to the mobility of the container, a cart can freely drive under the countertop.
The first floor is a private area with a bedroom and a bathroom
© Olive Kapusta
The apartment has two bathrooms - one on the first floor and the other on the first floor, each adapted to the needs of a person with disabilities. One of the important features of the bathrooms, are specially suspended sinks with an angled slope. This is intended to facilitate use - preventing unnecessary movement and bending of the hands during use.
Also read about the award-winning designs for houses for the blind - Because Every Step Counts by a team of students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, consisting of: Artemis Athanasiadi, Oliwia Karapuda, Aleksandra Maszczyk, and INvisible house by Patryk Włodarczyk from the Cracow University of Technology.
