• Welcome to The Building Code Forum

    Your premier resource for building code knowledge.

    This forum remains free to the public thanks to the generous support of our Sawhorse Members and Corporate Sponsors. Their contributions help keep this community thriving and accessible.

    Want enhanced access to expert discussions and exclusive features? Learn more about the benefits here.

    Ready to upgrade? Log in and upgrade now.

designated aisle seats in assembly

B

bill1952

SAWHORSE
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,591
Location
Clayton NY
An unexpected issue came up I'm the ICC A117.1 meeting yesterday. Purpose or use of the designated aisle seats in assembly seating with fixed seats. Movie theatre, performing arts theatres, stadiums, arenas, and so on. In the 90s, I have on good authority that the concept came from airplanes and transfer seats. I've worked on projects where the authority for accessibility made clear they were for transfer from a wheelchair. In my design work, I try to include space for the wheelchair close to the designated aisle seat. I could go on with these examples.

So yesterday representatives from the access board, HUD, ICC, and others insisted they were not for transferring from a wheel chair but for people with walkers and canes and stiff joints and people that can't move into a row of seats.

Who do you think it's for?

(Theatre management knows they work well for obese people, bring able to lift or swing or remove the aisle arm.)

I got involved in code development in 1987 and took the position of I don't care what it says, as long as most everyone agrees on what it requires. Seems like I'm back there.
 
I'm honestly shocked the the Access Board doesn't understand what "transfer" means. Why do they put those grab bars in toilet rooms and toilet compartments?
 
It is for what they said—for people who have mobility but cannot sit in a seat further in the row. My wife uses a walker and always requests an aisle seat when available.

Designated aisle seats are not intended for transfer from a wheelchair.
 
Clearly disagreement. I've only checked two sets institutions - Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center - and their web site is fairly clear they are for transfer, and explain the system of tagging and storing and bringing your chair back at intermission and end of show. And as I stated the requirement was originally based on air plane seats and transferring from those special narrow armless chairs to a seat.

I know everyone here is an expert and is certain of their interpretation, just too bad the interpretations vary so widely.

Anyways, the house managers are thankful for a place to seat the really wide people. ( Lincoln center has in addition some very wide seats spread around. I've done same at mega churches. They tend to have wide people.)
 
bill1952 said:
Anyways, the house managers are thankful for a place to seat the really wide people. ( Lincoln center has in addition some very wide seats spread around. I've done same at mega churches. They tend to have wide people.)
Click to expand...

Waiting areas at my VA hospital also have some extra-wide seats.
 
Designated aisle seats are not required to be on an accessible route, but are to be the seats closest to an accessible route. Thus, they are not intended to be transfer seats, but could be transfer seats if located on an accessible route. The explanatory information in the ADA Standards for designated aisle seat identification states that the seats are for people having difficulty with walking.
 
Has to do with wide seats for obese. I'm just saying not designing for it because I'm code doesn't require it is poor design.
 
RLGA said:
Designated aisle seats are not required to be on an accessible route, but are to be the seats closest to an accessible route. Thus, they are not intended to be transfer seats, but could be transfer seats if located on an accessible route. The explanatory information in the ADA Standards for designated aisle seat identification states that the seats are for people having difficulty with walking.
Click to expand...
Not disagreeing. Access Board at one time considered these to be transfer seats, as many major performing arts centers do still. I'll be working to include the intended purpose in the standards and codes.
 
bill1952 said:
Has to do with wide seats for obese. I'm just saying not designing for it because I'm code doesn't require it is poor design.
Click to expand...

Okay, that's fine. But the code doesn't require any extra-wide seats, so code officials can't require them. And the provision (or lack thereof) of extra wide seats is beyond the scope of the question that started this discussion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top