Abstract:

Making existing buildings accessible often raises the question: how to bridge small differences between connecting floor levels. The acceptable level difference from accessibility point of view is defined in both national and international building regulations and standards; it couldn’t be more than 2 cm. Level-differences exceeding this value must be eliminated or bridged as it happens usually with ramps. In case of level differences smaller than 6–8 cm a regularly designed ramp occupies significant floor space; its length is about one meter. An’ adequately short’ ramp may and from many points of view should have higher gradient than 8% prescribed as maximum in building regulations. The question is that, how to define the term of’ adequately short’ and what kind of conditions must be fulfilled to avoid that threshold ramp itself becomes an obstacle. The basic goal of this paper is to analyze the applicability of threshold ramp that has no correct definition yet.