Barrier-Free Construction

How large is the smallest possible accessible housing unit?

In the summer of 2019, the Coordination Office "Barrier-Free Berlin" supported the holding of a seminar on the Masters course in Stage Design - Scenic Space - Model + Design at the Technische Universität Berlin on the topic of "accessible living in the smallest space" ("barrierefreies Wohnen auf kleinstem Raum").

The objective of the interdisciplinary seminar was, within the scope of a teaching event, to emphasise accessibility as a natural and obvious building task, to sensitise students and to make them aware of the topic of accessibility. Demographic development, diversity and flexibility require new strategies. Economic aspects should definitely not be ignored.

The focus was on accessible housing and not on the standard defined by DIN 18040-2 of unlimited use with a wheelchair.

As a result, 10 designs were created, which take up the topic in different ways and were implemented in models for the exhibition. In the seminar, the integrative approach of co-living offers was elucidated by the students and further examined in cooperation with the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the Construction Economics institute of the Technische Universität Berlin.

An accessible housing unit developed in scale 1:1 in the seminar forms the core of the exhibition. This was built by the trainees of the central workshop of the Technische Universität Berlin. It is the object holder for all models and plans and is itself an exhibit in the exhibition.

The designs are based on regulations on accessible living building requirements that came into effect on 01/01/2020 – the Accessible Living Ordinance of Berlin.

The exhibition room and the exhibition are accessible. A brochure with tactile floorplans is made available. The exhibition texts can be listened to as an audio file (mp3) with the help of QR codes in the brochure.

The exhibition is designed as a travelling exhibition and can be lent out. If you have any questions, please contact barrierefrei.bauen@sensw.berlin.de

Introduction

"How large is the smallest possible accessible housing unit?" - this was the question of a seminar at the Technische Universität Berlin on the Model + Design course. The objective was to emphasise accessibility as an obvious and natural building task, to sensitise students and to make them aware of the topic of accessibility. At the same time, the seminar aimed to highlight the need for diversity and flexibility, especially in housing construction. Not only in Berlin are rising property and rent prices, a growth in the number of single households and an increasing number of older people factors that require new approaches to solutions from planners and designers, developers and contractors.

In the seminar, the integrative approach of co-living offers were worked up by the students and further examined in cooperation with the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the Construction Economics unit of the Technische Universität Berlin.

Ten very different approaches were created in the form of models and illustrations for residential buildings typical for Berlin. An accessible housing unit developed in scale 1:1 in the seminar forms the core of the exhibition. This was built by the central workshop of the Technische Universität Berlin. It is the object holder for all models and plans and is itself an exhibit in the exhibition.

The exhibition and the presented designs are described in a pdf-file:
exhibition_accessible_microliving.pdf (pdf; 126 KB)