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Designing commercial and industrial buildings with the handicapped in mind is an option no longer -- its the law.
And while it's not required in residential structures, even plans for some types of houses are planned best with potential future owners, who may not have as many physical abilities as the first owners, in mind.
But since passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the early 1990s, engineers, architects and other design people have become quite familiar with the law's requirements and what it takes to satisfy those rules later.
According to Rick Hartig, architectural manager for Midstate Corp. of Appleton, most people who come in to have a building designed and built usually are aware of the requirements. "It is definitely the law, and you've got to think about it and consider it whenever you're doing new construction or any remodeling," said Hartig.
Charles Sazama, architectural manager at Marathon Engineers-Architects-Planners LLC in Appleton, said designing today what might be needed in a building later on if a company should hire a handicapped employee takes neither much effort nor money.
"I would say the codes are very general," he said. "We try to walk the line down the middle [to make sure that customer needs are met along with ADA]. You need, by law, to make these accommodations."
Sazama said each particular job is a unique project so discussing it in depth with the client before pencil is placed on paper is important.
"When we design a building, we comply with all the ADA guidelines, and there are mandatory requirements that all new buildings have to have, like the wider doors that are wheelchair-accessible, and door thresholds that are not higher than a half of an inch," he said.
"Toilet facilities are built to comply with requirements with turning spaces needed for accessibility into properly sized stalls, grab bars, and sinks of appropriate heights," said Dennis Olson, corporate architect at Marathon.
Both the Marathon designers and Hartig agreed that the additional costs for accessibility are almost negligible when designing the building.
"It's not too big of a deal," said Hartig. "It is just a matter of designing for entrances, accessible toilets and so forth. It doesn't add that much cost to the building if...