This post is about recommended widths of corridors, mattresses, chairs, tables etc.
95% of humans have height under 6 ft. We can therefore take this height to cover 95% of situations.All of the following numbers are for this height, meaning for near to 95% of humans there is some extra space available when following numbers are used.
To Stand:
Breadth-Wise:
Shoulder to Shoulder 18 inches
Shoulder to Shoulder + Muscles + Hips 24 inches
Stand Without Touching Another Person 27 inches
Stand Without Touching + Room For Arms March Movement 36 inches
Length-Wise:
From Tip of Middle Toe of Foot to Back of Heel Of Foot 12 inches (definition of Ft.)
Standing Without Touching Person In Front 18 inches
Standing Comfortably 24 inches
Conclusion:
Actual space needed to stand is 18 inches breadth-wise and 12 inches length-wise. This is when people are packed (in a bus or row for example) like bricks in wall. To just stand (no walking) without touching any person at side or front or back 1.5 times the above in each dimension is enough. To walk without touching any person 2 times the above is enough.
Recommendation:
36 inches breadth-wise and 24 inches length-wise per person space.
Applications:
Mattress Width. As long as person is laying flat means no turn-overs.
Corridors: 36 inches width is good (and enough for almost anything) as long as only one person is supposed to walk in the corridor at any given time. If two people are supposed to walk in the corridor (for example coming from opposite directions), then we need a 27 inches per person plus a 9 inches space in between i.e. 63 inches minimum space. Practically this could be rounded to 60 inches (5 ft.). However a full 72 inches (36 inches per person, 6 ft.) results in maximum comfort to space ratio, means the optimum point. Its also the most beautiful.
Doors: 36 inches width is optimum (comfort to space ratio, beauty) for single-person or couple rooms (bedrooms, kitchens, toilets, study rooms, computer rooms etc). These are the rooms which are supposed to be not used by more than two people at the same time. For rooms which are supposed to be used by more than two people at the same time (drawing rooms, halls, dining rooms, garages, main entrance to a large building, large warehouses etc) a 72 inches width is recommended as long as no vehicles are supposed to enter the room. If vehicles are supposed to enter the room then needed door width ofcourse depends on width of vehicle multiply by 1.25 (atleast) to 1.5 (recommended) to 2.0 (maximum).
Office Tables: These are the tables that are supposed to be used by only one person at a time. Examples are normal office tables, study tables, computer tables plus some room to do paper work, repairman's tables used by carpenters, electricians etc to make or build some machine etc. Since a person's height is under 6 ft. in 95% of cases, the arms span of a person is 6 ft when stretched at 0 degrees. A table however have to be considerably less wide because angle has to be greater than zero to be able to grasp things in front at sides of table.
Chairs:
To sit a person needs a chair that is maximum 2 ft long and 2 ft wide. We are not concerned with height of chair over here.
Almost all chairs fit in these dimensions. The left over are very huge luxury chairs that are not usually used or even seen.
These dimensions are not for sofas because some sofas have very thick bodies taking the whole scheme to something less than 4 ft x 4 ft, though these new dimensions cover almost all of the single person sofas.
These dimensions are not for couches or multi-person sofas because we are talking about sitting devices only, not devices that can be used for laying down also.
To move a chair comfortably backwards or sidewards to get out of the chair is 2 ft at each side. So, a chair when put in a position that its front-most end is touching the table and back-most end is 2 ft from the table, a 2 ft space at back of the chair (4 ft distance from table) is enough for people to comfortably move chair back and get out. In the same position, a 1 ft extra space at each side of chair is enough for comfortably move chair at sides while using it.
For wheelchairs, corridors need to be 4 ft wide.
From the above, it can be safely concluded that in a chair, the space for chair movement must be 4 ft wide for maximum comfort. It means that any drawers in the table at sides, or any wooden rack placed at far side of table (to place an electronic switch board or computer casing for example) must be beyond the 4 ft width. Since (as explained later below) recommended width of single-person table is 5 ft, placing drawers at sides in table is not practical unless the drawers are extremely narrow (4 inches wide).
Cabinets:
Cabinets, be them kitchen ones or clothes ones or office ones needs a 4 ft space behind them for cabinet door to be comfortably open plus space for person to stand, as long as the door of cabinet is less than 2 ft wide. The point is that, the person standing must have a 2 ft space atleast when cabinet door is fully opened.
Later we will see that depth of no cabinet should exceed 18 inches inside the cabinet (means other than the walls of cabinet). Its because distance between elbow and tip of middle finger of hand is under 18 inches in 95% of humans, therefore any length beyond 18 inches requires elbows to be bend which is a pain.
Later we will see that the width of walls of cabinet should never exceed 2 inches. This limits the depth of cabinet including cabinet-walls to 22 inches, meaning that door of cabinet can not be greater than 11 inches if there are two doors and 22 inches if there is only one door. So about 2 ft length of door plus 2 ft space behind the cabinet for person to stand, a total of 4 ft space is needed near all cabinets to both stand and comfortably use the cabinets. Ofcourse 4 ft. width means that a person on wheel chair can also use that space to comfortably move around the room / kitchen when the cabinet is closed.
As discussed below in the section of Office Tables, it is found that effective reach of a person width wise is under 5 ft, therefore no cabinet including walls should be more than this wide. Infact, the most comfortable width inside is 4.5 ft i.e. excluding walls.
Therefore, recommended dimensions of cabinets is: 5 ft x 2 ft (outside), 4.5 ft x 1.5 ft (inside)
Office Tables:
A 6 ft. person with arms stretched at 0 degrees covers as much space horizontally as his height i.e. 6 ft. When sitting on a table, a person has to reach not only the ends of table at 0 degrees but also at some greater than zero degrees to grasp things put at sides of tables at extreme i.e. corners of table. Therefore, 5 ft. is the recommended width of a single-person table i.e. office table. Beyond 5 ft the person cannot use without standing up or extending at uncomfortable positions at sides.
Length wise, when sitting comfortably at table, a person has his elbows at the edge of table, so can reach to 18 inches in front. Since the length of whole arms is 27 inches (distance between shoulder and tip of middle finger of hand), a person can reach 27 inches in front. If the person sit as close to table as he can, that is table touching his chest, he can reach 27 inches in front without bending, and 36 inches in front when bending as much as he can without leaving the chair. Therefore, the maximum reach of hand on table is 36 inches. We have to keep this as a standard because a person's hands need not reach all the edges of table to fully use the table, this is because the objects the person want to grasp have some volume of their own, so a 27 inches reach is enough to utilize a 36 inches space when most of the things (files, papers, printers etc) have about 9 inches width of their own.
Conclusion:
5 ft width and 3 ft length.
Mattresses:
A person needs 18 inches shoulder to shoulder when fully packed with other person, 24 inches if some muscles' and hips' space is allowed and 27 inches without having any physical contact with neighbours. 36 inches is good enough to walk but not enough to sleep because some people like to put arms at sides and also we have to keep room for turn-overs during sleep. However, if some open space is allowed at sides of mattress then 36 inches width of mattress is enough. If we do not want the person to extend any body part outside mattress during sleep, then 4.5 ft or 54 inches is the most we need.
Length-wise, 81 inches is enough. This allows 72 inches (6 ft) of person's height plus 6 inches for pillow plus 3 inches below person.
54 inches is also wide enough for two adults to sleep (but with some discomfort) and for one adult and one child to sleep comfortably.
No comments:
Post a Comment