Design for Living

While the design of interiors of buildings built for senior citizens and the handicapped is of concern to most designers, the conditions described by G. Worthington (Sept. 14) are more a result of current building codes. These dictate specific sizes, such as area of windows, security screening, fire-rated doors, which usually are heavy and have closers, and miscellaneous heights and widths of fixed furnishings.

Kitchen cabinet depths are dictated by appliance depths, and over-counter wall cabinets are required to be a specific height above the counters. If a broom closet or other tall storage closet is adjacent to the counter cabinet, it is usually made the same depth. Manufacturers are reluctant to address the issue of product design for the elderly and the handicapped because the market for sales of specifically designed products is much too small to be profitable.

If insistence is on rational resolutions, they will eventually occur.

Our insatiable insistence for protection from everything will eventually protect us from the quality of life.

WARREN BAKLEY

San Diego