Abstract
We researched the general houses (not the public house) newly built, extended, and rebuilt specially for the handicapped (= the wheelchair user). The purpose of this report is to make some proposals for improving their housing conditions. The results are as follows; (1) The space in the first floor where a wheelchair is able to drive about is from 66m^2 to 99m^2, which occupies about 70 per cent in the newly built and about 50 per cent in the extended or rebuilt house. (2) The rooms, which are secured preferentially for driving a wheelchair, are a sleeping room [P] for the handicapped, a W.C. [C] and a bath room [B]. In addition to those rooms, as the space for driving a wheelchair, in the newly built house a living room and a dinning room, and in the extended or rebuilt house a dinning kitchen are secured. (3) There seems to be three types in connecting [P] with [C] and [B] : 1) Non-Passing (through the other room) Type, 2) Partially Passing Type, and 3) Passing Type. (4) In case of the Non-Passing Type, it is important to place [P] close to [C] and [B]. This type is suitable for the household with the seriously handicapped, for example <WD>(wheelchair depended), and it promotes the independence of the handicapped. (5) The Passing Type is unsuitable to hold privacy of the passed room. As any private room should not be passed, it tends to pass through a living room or a dining kitchen. This type helps the handicapped sit in a home circle with their family. And it is useful when the handicapped is a husband or a wife. (6) The Partially Passing Type comes to the intermediate between the Non-Passing Type and the Passing Type. But this type has the common interests to the latter about privacy.
