Housing should meet the needs of as many people as possible. The more accessible apartments there are on the market, the better. But not every property labeled as accessible actually is. Our new blog post explains why.
Housing should meet the needs of as many people as possible. The more accessible apartments there are on the market, the better. Accessible apartments don’t just meet the needs of people with physical disabilities. Many older adults also rely on accessible apartments, and they offer many advantages for families with children as well. However, not every property labeled as accessible is actually accessible. In this blog post, we’ll provide some guidelines to help you assess whether a property is truly accessible.
Independent living is a human right
First, let’s briefly clarify the legal basis—because, from a legal standpoint, accessible housing must be provided in Germany. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been in effect in Germany since 2009, independent living is a human right: Article 28, paragraph 1, of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the right of people with disabilities to an adequate standard of living with their families in terms of food, clothing, and housing. It calls for steps to continuously improve living conditions and to promote the realization of this right. But what characterizes accessible housing?
An important distinction: “low-barrier” is not the same as “barrier-free”
Accessibility is still often mistakenly equated with the absence of stairs—and with the availability of an elevator, for example. But it’s not quite that simple—to design residential buildings to be accessible, far more criteria must be met. DIN 18040 is the fundamental standard for accessible construction and design in Germany. The standard consists of three parts and aims to design buildings to be accessible so that people with disabilities can access and use them in the usual manner, without undue difficulty and, in principle, without assistance from others (in accordance with Section 4 of the German Disability Equality Act (BGG)). In particular, it takes into account the needs of people with visual and hearing impairments, people with mobility impairments, users of mobility aids and wheelchairs, people of all heights, people with cognitive impairments, older adults, children, and people with strollers and luggage.
The first part of the standard establishes requirements for the construction of public buildings; the second part addresses how residential units should be designed to be accessible; and the third part contains guidelines for the accessible design of public transportation and outdoor spaces. This article takes a closer look at the requirements for the accessible design of residential units.
Accessibility Begins at the Property Line
An accessible apartment makes little sense if it cannot be reached without barriers. For this reason, the access route and the entrance to the building should be designed to be accessible. Where the elevation of the site does not allow for a connection to the street with a permissible slope
, wheelchair-accessible ramps must be provided. In addition to barrier-free accessibility, additional requirements regarding surfaces and color schemes (which should provide visual contrast) must be observed to make the building accessible to as many people as possible. Ideally, wheelchair-accessible and appropriately marked parking spaces should be located on the property.
Internal Accessibility and Barrier-Free Entrances
To ensure barrier-free access to a multi-story building from the inside, a elevator should ideally be available. This is mandatory for new five-story buildings anyway, but should also be provided whenever possible for new buildings with fewer than five stories. One area that is often overlooked in the context of accessibility is the transition from the front door into the apartment. The building’s entrance door should be threshold-free if possible, or have a threshold no higher than two centimeters. The door should be a contrasting color to the rest of the facade. Automatic door openers significantly facilitate access to the building—they enhance comfort for all residents. They enhance comfort for all residents and are an important aid for people with mobility impairments. All rooms located in the basement of a residential building—whether for communal or private use—should be as barrier-free as possible and easily accessible via electric door openers and closers. Access to existing balconies should also be appropriately barrier-free, and these balconies should meet the minimum size requirements specified by standards to ensure accessibility for wheelchair users.
Elevators—Please, No Mini-Shafts
It is beneficial for residential buildings to have elevators. However, these can only be considered barrier-free if there is a sufficiently large maneuvering area (1.5 x 1.5 meters according to DIN) in front of the elevator and the cabin measures at least 1.40 x 1.10 meters.
Inside the elevator, there should be a control panel mounted at a low height with extra-large controls so that as many people as possible can operate the elevator. Stairs can also be designed to be accessible: They should have a handrail on both sides, installed at a height of 85 to 90 centimeters. To facilitate access for visually impaired users, handrails should ideally be equipped with tactile markings.
For example, floor levels can be marked relatively easily and inexpensively using raised markings and indentations in the handrail. In addition, it makes sense to highlight the edges of the steps with color contrasts—this can be achieved, for example, by milling grooves with colored inserts. Smaller building entrances that are accessible only via stairs should be supplemented with a ramp.
Where to Store Wheelchairs and Strollers?
Residential buildings need suitable storage spaces for wheelchairs and other mobility aids, as well as for strollers. Unfortunately, however, this issue is often only considered by the people who rely on these items. If appropriate storage spaces were not taken into account during the planning of a residential building, this causes significant inconvenience for those affected: Especially in older buildings, tenants are often forced to store wheelchairs and other mobility aids in their own hallways for fire safety reasons, and parents often have to laboriously haul strollers down to the basement. In a well-designed residential building, there should be an easily accessible, conveniently located, dry, clean, and secure storage area for these items.
How are interior spaces designed to be accessible?
To ensure accessibility, there are minimum dimensions that rooms should meet—for example, hallways should be at least 1.20 meters wide. If a unit is to be accessible by wheelchair, there must also be a maneuvering area of 1.50 x 1.50 meters in the hallway, and this clearance must be maintained in front of doors as well.
Interior doors are considered accessible if they have no bottom door stops or thresholds and feature a clear passage width of 0.80 meters and a height of 2.05 meters. Windows, especially in living areas, should allow a view outside even while seated (achieved through a sill height of 60 centimeters) and be easy to operate. Floor-to-ceiling windows meet these requirements and have the advantage of letting plenty of light into the living spaces.
In new buildings, no one should have to climb into the shower
When it comes to bathroom design, accessibility should be a top priority. While climbing into a shower stall is no problem at all for many younger people, it can become a risk of injury for older residents or, eventually, an insurmountable obstacle, making its use virtually impossible for those with limited mobility. In modern or renovated apartments, step-free walk-in shower stalls should be standard today; support and grab bars should be installable as needed, and doors should not swing into the shower area.
There should be sufficient space to move around in front of sinks and toilets, as well as in the shower area—the DIN standard specifies approximately 1.20 x 1.20 meters here. Sink areas should also be usable while seated, and the shower area should be slip-resistant and lowered by no more than two centimeters. If a bathroom is to be wheelchair-accessible, there are extensive requirements—for example, toilets must be a certain height, the flush must be reachable while seated, and a folding shower seat must be provided. So when an apartment is described as barrier-free and wheelchair-accessible, these regulations can be used to verify exactly whether it meets the formal requirements or not.
Conclusion: Accessibility Pays Off
When investing in real estate, it’s worth checking whether the property is designed to be accessible—and if not, whether it can be retrofitted accordingly. It makes sense to advocate for accessible living spaces not only in light of demographic change but also out of a sense of social responsibility toward all people who depend on such features. Many measures—especially for people with hearing and visual impairments—can be implemented with minimal effort. When renovating an apartment or house, it makes sense to make it accessible right away to avoid costly retrofits later on.
In new construction, there are no plausible reasons to forego barrier-free design. For example, the study “Cost Comparison of Accessible Construction” by Terragon Wohnungsbau concludes that accessible construction is primarily a matter of planning and only to a very small extent a matter of cost. According to the study’s authors, only a few of the criteria for accessible construction required by DIN 18040 entail additional costs.
