Option for Improved Accessibility to F-Section & Management Office by Anne Lewison, AIA RAIC

I have lived at Seward Park Co-op since the 1987 and am a practicing architect with experience mostly in public buildings, memorials, and museums. Accessibility is one of the most important issues we face for all public projects including major renovations of buildings built before Federal accessibility laws were put in place in the late 1980s.

Access to SPC's exterior garden spaces has improved with the motion detector operation so that the doors open every time someone approaches them along our back corridors. This allows both building residents and staff to circulate more easily, both for general purposes as well as with laundry or strollers. The doors to the laundry room could be improved with some opening assist as well so that anyone pushing or pulling a cart or managing both cart and stroller or walker can circulate more easily.

One area of our property that has two significant accessibility challenges — the exit ramp outside Building 2's F Section, and the nearby Management office. I personally found the ramp challenging when I was pushing a double stroller, and I often see older people having difficulty navigating the steps and entry to the Management Office when they are off to deposit monthly charges. Here is an option that could improve this situation.

Access to the Management Office

The interior access door embrasure to the Management Office is too narrow to accommodate a cart. Once the door is open the passage is narrow and does not stay open long enough for comfortable passage.
The exterior stairs are high and irregular which makes it challenging for someone with a cane or with a wagon. Then the door to the vestibule has one more step to navigate.

Access to the Clinton Street door of Building 2

The ramp is a little too steep for comfortable access
There is no level landing at the top. It is effectively part of the ramp which requires the user to keep their cart or walker stable while reaching the door release and then navigate pulling the door toward themselves before entering the building.

Option for new paved path connecting to Management Office and F Section Door (shown in orange)

Proposed ADA compliant shallow ramp layout near F Section

Building 2 — This shows a shallow ramp from the west side of the main entry path that would connect to a level landing from the Management Office along to the F Section side door to Clinton Street. Most critical is extending a flat exterior landing at the outside of the vestibule door.

Note: One Cryptomeria tree would need to be relocated to accomplish this pathway.

Some options for the Management Office entry

In a subsequent conversation, Ms. Lewison suggested that the Management Office itself has some significant accessibility problems, and said that changing the entrances would be idea. The following paragraph is quoted from that subsequent conversation.

The outdoor entry could shift to the north west side facing the main curved path with a very short ramp and landing, or continue in its current location with the ramp and extended landing I suggested. I would not like to shift the entry to the area facing the covered seating area, it would be my least preferred option, but it would remove almost all of the ramp and require a complete redesign of the Management Office internal layout.