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Thanks for interesting message, esp alert to architect Aarvar AAlto (correct spelling below, but if I use control-V to go there, my software freaks out). No, please don't go to effort of sending pictures. I will expect to see them featured in the NYTimes one of these days. Yes, ramps can be a wonderful architectural element. I appreciate even the uglier, often retro-fitted ones, as do many fully functional people who are pushing a baby stroller or lugging a shopping cart, and want to go to the library (or up and down the mini-ramps that are curb cuts). I have a concern on the other side: places that provide escalators and ramps, but do not provide the alternative of stairs. This is true of some NYC subway stations. It can be hard in a city to build exercise, including lifting your leg to a step, into your day. In an office building where I worked, I was asked NOT to use the stairwell to get to my 7th floor office, for security reasons. Meaning, I guess, they worried I would be attacked in the stairwell and then sue the building. Or perhaps just that it was easier for guard to monitor just access to elevators, not stairwell. I hope designers will be alert to such problems as well. So build beautiful ramps, but keep those space-efficient, exercise-providing stairs: save our quadriceps! How very intelligent of you to use this forum to educate us about design problems and solutions, and to educate yourself about the range of considerations. I hope you will urge other designers and architects to do so. And if you can make a commercial success of it as well, nothing could be better for all concerned. On Thu, 10 Feb 1994, Mark Wilson wrote: > Barbara Michalak: > They are not at all bulky, and work better than any bulky handle could ever > work. It is even difficult for some people who see the simply lines to > believe they work at all. Once you put them in your hands, it is like.... > Well one person told me it was like Colombus's egg (Uovo di Colombo). He was > in a bar one evening -true story- and like bar bets go, he told someone he > could make an egg stand on end. You've probably heard it. Anyhow, when they > said he couldn't do it, he tapped the egg on the end until he dented it a > little bit - and voila'! The guy said "That's obvious". His answer was "it > wasn't obvious to you until I did it". I would be happy to send you some > photos. I think the pictures showing them being held with various hand > positions would make it clear. > > I think you are absolutely right about the real problem being a poliltical > and awareness problem. No doubt about it. But to me, in a sense, it is a > moral one as well. And you can't mandate morality. For example: barrier > free architecture means we are supposed to have accessibility - which > naturally means ramps. There are examples of ramps throughout history which > are not "handicap ramps" but means of gracefully winding up and down from one > level to another - the concern had nothing to do with accessibility. You > would think that a designer with a little talent would make the ramp > something more (as the historical example - there are also some modern > example). Unfortunately there are very few dignified ramps. For most > corporate architectural firms, the ramp is a requirement. Just put it in. > The conscientious designer dignifies it; the majority don't. It really is a > great oppotunity that is being lost. Many examples could be cited. > > I think one of the world's greatest architects was Aalvar Aalto. He always > considered the "weakest" persons in his designs. His hospitals and libraries > - and countless other designs - show incredible sensitivity to the weak.