BARIATRIC DESIGN

Formerly considered to affect a low percentage of the population and relegated as a low design priority, obesity is growing at surprising rates. Currently at an all-time high, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that 40 percent of adults and 19 percent of children are obese.⁶

Furthermore, the National Institutes of Health asses the national rise in obesity rates as alarming, anticipating that as the Baby Boom generation approaches retirement age, obesity within the general population will continue to increase.

Consequently, architects who seek to design resilient restrooms must design for bariatric minimums to accommodate the needs of large and heavy-weight users.

When creating a universally designed or multigenerational bathroom, bariatric designs are strongly recommended. This includes specialized toilets with increased weight capacities that can tolerate as much as 1,000 pounds, toilet seat heights of between 17 and 19 inches for ease of standing, and restroom layouts that anticipate a minimum turning radius of 6 feet for wider wheelchairs.

Bariatric grab bars should be able to bear between 750 and 1,000 pounds. This is referred to as the static load, which is the maximum amount of non-moving weight a piece of equipment can bear.

Meanwhile, the dynamic load must be designed to accommodate the weight of a patient in falling motion, which is approximately twice the individual’s weight. So for bariatric individuals up to 900 pounds, the impact weight/dynamic load would be 1,800 pounds.

Designing to these parameters have been proven to help reduce liability for owners. In fact, a 2016 study published in the World Journal of Emergency Surgery reported that on average, obese individuals who experience a fall require longer hospital stays than normal-weight patients do.

When designing for health-care settings, the bathrooms should be sized to allow for staff assistance on two sides of the patient at the toilet and shower. Offering a general rule of thumb, the Bariatric Room Design Advisory Board recommends a minimum of 45 square feet for the toilet/shower room, with waterproof walls and floor.

ADA SIGNAGE

Driven by ADA requirements, growing numbers of visually impaired individuals, and ADA violation penalties, proper signage in public facilities is essential.

Photo courtesy of Inpro

ADA-compliant signage must provide characters in contrast with the background; pictograms, such as the universal wheelchair sign, with a field height of at least 6 inches; and images should not share a field with Braille or other raised elements.

In fact, from the top 10 ADA access violations, outdated, missing, incorrect, wrong-height, hard-to-find, or improperly mounted signs is the number-one reason why facilities might be fined for not following ADA requirements.

The following are some basic parameters for signage.

For starters, the finish must be eggshell, matte, or non-glare, and the characters need to contrast with the background—either light on dark, or dark on light. Pictograms, such as the universal wheelchair sign, should have a field height of at least 6 inches and not share a field with Braille or other raised elements.

Any text on the signage must be a minimum of ⁵⁄₈ inches and a maximum of 2 inches high. The text needs to be raised at least ¹⁄₃₂ inch, and the sign must also incorporate Grade II Braille. In terms of placement, the sign needs to be mounted on the latch side of the door, at least 48 inches from the finished floor to the base of the characters, and no more than 60 inches to the top line of text.