Improving entry accessibility to sanctuary: Hampton Drive side (Draft Proposal)

THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR is the only entrance to (and exit from) our historic sanctuary that works for someone in a wheelchair. Yet that success is mixed: It relies upon employing portable aluminum ramps that are placed at a steep (and thus rather unsafe) angle. And making it work requires careful attention from at least a couple of people at a time.

Surely we can do better than this! Therefore I am planning to propose to the board that we engage an architect to design a solution for us.

Below the jump, this post lists the criteria for a proposed project to improve the level of accessibility through this corridor. It also touches on the role of an architect in this project’s success.

Design criteria

Entering the building

The gate on Hampton Avenue is where someone in a wheelchair enters the premises. After crossing the play yard, they come to the double doors that lead to this corridor. Leading up to those doors, a ramp (with proper railings) needs to be constructed that will replace the present steps and porch. 

That ramp must be designed and constructed so that it does not interfere with four nearby functions (two of which exist only in potential). They are: 

1. the opening to the crawl space under the school building; 
2. a possible storage room and/or congregating space that may be built outside, under the overhang and above the basement steps;
3. access to the adjacent “Rabbi’s ready room”; and
4. placement of a possible vertical lift that would provide access to the bimah for people for whom the steps are not feasible.

Furthermore, if the ramp has a gentle-enough slope, our preschool stands to gain usable area that would increase its legal capacity (75 sq ft  =  +1 child).

Getting through the corridor

The corridor includes a landing and three steps. A second ramp (with proper railings) needs to be constructed that will replace them, at least in part.

Historic-cultural aspects

Improving accessibility is a vital outcome, yet historically significant characteristics ought to be preserved where possible. The spaces-and-features survey in our Historic Structure Report (2003) lists several such features that remain in this corridor. Although the individual elements are not of striking architectural importance, taken together they give something of the original feel of our historic sanctuary space. This corridor may well be the space in our sanctuary building that has been the least modified since 1948. 

A challenge befitting an architect

Reconciling all of the above competing considerations in an elegant and cost-effective manner would not be easy. Frankly, this is a job for architect—one who has experience in ADA access and in historic spaces. Certainly it is beyond my design abilities. And I believe it would be more than a typical contractor could handle unaided. Therefore I wish to propose that we engage an architect to prepare a design that we can take to a contractor.

Furthermore, the right architect could help us not only with finding quality contractors and with evaluating bids, but also with getting building permits and securing approval from the Cultural Heritage Commission.