DIN Standards Committee Mechanical Engineering
DIN 18040-1
Construction of accessible buildings - Design principles - Part 1: Publicly accessible buildings
Barrierefreies Bauen - Planungsgrundlagen - Teil 1: Öffentlich zugängliche Gebäude
Overview
This standard has been prepared by NA 005-01-11 AA "Barrierefreies Bauen" ("Construction of accessible buildings") of the Building and Civil Engineering Standards Committee (NABau). The standard DIN 18040 shall consist of two parts, Part 1 "Publicly accessible buildings" and Part 2 "Dwellings". This part of the standard DIN 18040 cancels and replaces DIN 18024-2:1996-11 "Construction of accessible buildings - Part 2: Publicly accessible buildings and workplaces, design principles". The standard describes under which technical prerequisites buildings and structures are accessible. The standard applies to barrier-free planning, execution and equipment of publicly accessible buildings and their outdoor areas, whereby accessibility refers to those parts of the building and their associated outdoor areas which are intended for public use. Accessible buildings include, in particular, cultural and educational institutions, sports and leisure facilities, health care facilities, office and administrative facilities and court houses, shops and restaurants, parking spaces, garages and toilet facilities (compare § 50, paragraph 2, MBO ("German building regulations")). Compared with DIN 18024-2, this standard no longer covers rules for workplaces. Sensory requirements have been added. Furthermore, the contents of the aforementioned standard have been fundamentally revised and restructured. As a rule, the individual clauses each initially state the protection objectives to be reached as a prerequisite for accessibility. Then it is demonstrated how the protection objective can be reached, differentiated according to the various needs of different groups of people, if necessary. The aim of the standard DIN 18040-1 is to design the built living environment so that it is accessible and enables as many people as possible to use it in a conventional way, without particular impediments and basically without help from others. Part 2 "Dwellings" of DIN 18040, which will replace the two standards DIN 18025-1:1992-12 "Accessible dwellings; dwellings for wheel chair users, design principles" and DIN 18025-2:1992-12 "Accessible dwellings; design principles", will soon be available for the public. The remaining standard DIN 18024:1:1998-01 "Barrier-free built environment - Part 1: Streets, squares, paths, public transport, recreation areas and playgrounds - Design principles" is currently being revised and remains valid until the new standard is published.
