Amendments to Vancouver's building code adopted in September will require lever handles on all doors in newly built housing beginning next March. Could such code changes soon be adopted far and wide?
"In Vancouver, the doorknob is heading into a setting sun," writes Jeff Lee. "Its future has been date-marked, legislated out of existence in all future construction, a tip to society’s quest for universal design and the easier-to-use lever handle."
Tim Stainton, a professor and director of the School of Social Work at the University of B.C., compares the replacement of knobs with other widely-adopted aspects of universal design, such as intersection curb cuts and fire alarm strobes.
"And as it goes in Vancouver, so will it go in B.C., Canada, and perhaps even the world," says Lee.
FULL STORY: Vancouver’s ban on the humble doorknob likely to be a trendsetter
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