1. Background and Objective
In recent years in Japan, the survival rate of newborns has been improving due to the advance in medical technology. At the same time, the number of children who are forced to live with some kind of disability has been increasing. This has led to the development of support facilities for disabled children. However, the design criterion for this type of facility determined by law only requires minimum placement of rooms and size. There have been many problems as this criterion does not correspond with actual operation of facilities. Also, the facilities were designed without understanding the characteristics of disabled children (e.g. hypersensitivity to sensory stimulus etc., ), which has been causing facility staff in many places to conduct improvements in the building. For the future, in order to improve such circumstance in developing a support facility for disabled children, it is necessary to consider a design criterion that reflects the actual operation. Therefore, this study aims at examining and suggesting considerations in designing a support facility for disabled children.
2. Method
We extract problems at the time of operation from research of repair points and questionnaire survey in facilities for disabled children of Japan. In addition, in order to grasp the actual activity situation, a behavior observation was conducted, and the activity of staff, children and parents during the day were plotted at 5 minutes intervals on 2D diagram. in a facility located Kanto. From this, Characteristic situations in the facility from a viewpoint on activities and usage of furniture were extracted. With the method mentioned above, the considerations in designing a support facility for disabled children were examined.
3. Results
As a result of surveys, we clarified following some points.
1) In the nursery room, blinder is put on doors and shelves to make the environment where disability children can concentrate on activities.
2) In the nursery room and hallway, In consideration for the safety of disability children, special keys are attached to doors so that children cannot go in and out without permission.
3) In the rooms such as the the nursery room and playroom, cushioning material was placed on the sash of doors/windows, corners of shelves, and pillars etc., for children's safety.
4) In welfare-oriented class (Wa), In order to make switching activities easy, the guidance training room is divided into 3 space with shelves and the children move between space for different activities. In addition, the characteristics such as inability to concentrate on activities because of surrounding objects are taken into account, thus the furniture or toys are prepared/removed for each activity to keep the guidance training room clear of things.
5) In medical-care-oriented class (Ka), since many children in this class cannot sit independently, most activities are done laying down on the floor. The parents also engage in most activities in a sitting position. Due to the hard floor, activities take place on a floor mattress. In addition, the supportive chairs cannot be stack for storage as they are custom made for each child's physical structure and level of disability. Since there is not enough space in the storage room, they are kept in the part of training room.
4. Conclusions
In order to provide safety for children and create an environment to be able to concentrate, the factors mentioned in Table 5 should be taken into consideration when designing the facility. In view of this, along with considering the design criterion based on the actual operation, a designer must make an effort to communicate with facility managers and seek an understanding of disabled children.
