Avaliação dos parâmetros de acessibilidade espacial para idosos: estudo de dois apartamentos em Maceió/AL

Abstract

The growing number of elderly population in Brazil indicates the need to project adequate houses to satisfy this new population demand by means of proposition of accessible spaces in order to provide most autonomy and independence, enhancing the quality of life of the users. In Brazil, the house, especially for the classes A and B of the population, is the housing market space. The program "Minha Casa, Minha Vida", launched by the Federal Government, provides access to housing for low-income people and has also followed the sales logic of the housing market to the classes C and D of the population. In Maceió, there is a strong housing market investment in the construction of multifamily residential buildings; however, it isn’t known whether the practices projective used in the construction of these buildings are really compatible with the needs of this user profile, considering parameters of spatial accessibility provided in laws and specific rules. The general objective of this thesis in architecture and town planning was to evaluate the parameters of spatial accessibility for the elderly in apartments offered by the housing market in Maceió/AL with publicity appeal of that its spaces are appropriate to this user profile. Among buildings offered in the city, there were identified two examples: one with popular standard and other with high standard. It was selected one of each apartment and both were evaluated using two different methods: (i) Space Activities developed by Jorge Boueri Filho and (ii) Assessment of Housing Project proposed by Gabriela Pereira. Six stages of evaluation were adopted: (i) adjusting the layout, (ii) evaluation movement areas and maneuver wheelchair, (iii) evaluation accessing areas of furniture and equipment, (iv) evaluation of overlapping areas of circulation regarding the areas of access to furniture and equipment, (v) the valuation report of spatial accessibility and (vi) project recommendations. The results showed that the parameters of spatial accessibility are not attended in the apartments evaluated regardless of their area and to which income bracket of the population they have been designed. In the popular standard apartment, the dining room, the kitchen and the couple suite had the most satisfactory results; in the laundry area, in the single bedroom and in the bathroom were identified the worst results. In the high standard apartment, it was identified the most satisfactory project conditions in the living/dining room and also in the laundry area. The balcony, the lavatory, the suite 1 and the bathroom of the reversible suites presented the most critical results. Most incompatibilities found between the spaces and the needs of the elderly showed that the rooms of the apartments were undersized in relation to the furniture and to the equipment proposed and that there is an unequal distribution of layout caused by the amount of furniture/equipment suggested to this space, superior to that this ambient could accommodate. The spatial accessibility problems identified in this study could be avoided if the building professionals and the construction company responsible for the projects applied the accessibility parameters indicated in laws and specific rules in force and if the government supervised the application of these parameters in the apartments that are being offered.