Building Adaptable Housing
From Theory to Practice. Current developments in the Netherlands
D.J.M. van der Voordt
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Abstract
In order to realize housing which is suitable for use by physically handicapped people, the following two approaches have been employed, up to now, in the Netherlands: 1. The individual approach, aimed at housing which, once built, or at a later stage, is adapted to the individual requirements of a disabled occupant ("adapted housing"). 2. The categorical approach, by which is meant that a limited number of homes have already been adapted, during construction, to meet the assumed needs of a specific category of disabled people (in practice, usually people in wheelchairs), without the future occupant being known ("adapted housing in stockpile"). Because of the drawbacks incurred by both these approaches, such as high adaptation costs, a limited choice of homes, and people being forced to move, a new approach is now under experimentation in the Netherlands: building adaptable housing. This concept refers to a design approach which offers the possibility of adapting ordinary housing, when necessary, to the needs of a (prospective) handicapped tenant, in a relatively simple and inexpensive manner. In this paper, a review is presented of current developments in research and practice.