Truly private clubs are often believed to be exempt from the federal American Disability Act (ADA). However, almost all local building codes have adopted accessibility standards for all buildings, including clubs, and clubhouses and club grounds should conform to ADA standards.
However, we don’t need laws to force us to make our club facilities ADA compliant. It is just good common sense to plan for the safety of our members and staff in buildings regardless of handicap accessibility requirements.
The great clubhouses of yesteryear were multistory buildings with lots of steps: often ornamental, with open stairways and wider treads and full of opportunities for members and staff to fall down them. A clubhouse of yesteryear would have an elevator if it was over three stories in height, but in all cases, stairs were the primary means of vertical circulation.
Today we treasure these wonderful old clubhouses, but we need to make them safer. Stairway designs should include:
- Lower riser height and longer tread lengths
- Better railings
- Tread surfaces that are visually safe and well lit
- Nosing strips that identify next steps
- Flooring materials that are not slick
If low sloping ramps are used to conform to current codes, they should visually alert people that a grade change is about to happen.
Old, small elevators of yesteryear also need to be replaced with larger, wheelchair accessible elevators inclusive of all the fire-safety protective devices.
For existing multistory clubhouses, the most heavily used clubhouse areas should be located on the main, on-grade floor. A classic clubhouse design fault from yesteryear is an entry drive drop-off at the club’s main front door that has numerous steps leading up to it, increasing risk for members. A solution is to raise the entry drive and porte cochere protection at the front door to eliminate the steps entirely.
In new clubhouse designs, architects should try to eliminate as many steps as possible. Steps can pose serious risks, especially for older people. One-story clubhouses best serve older members, especially in retirement communities.
Recently in the design of a new clubhouse for an older community, the architect made a good case for a two-story design that would be more efficient to build and cover less land area than a one-story design. But once the members realized how many steps were required, even though an elevator was provided, they immediately requested a one-story design. This also gets to the issue of the usage of second-floor facilities, which generally have significantly less use by members. People don’t like to use steps or elevators if they don’t have to.
The secret in good clubhouse design—aside from making buildings attractive and well-designed—is to make them easy to use and safer for members and staff. In many instances, believe it or not, the one-story design is less expensive to build and operate.
When considering a clubhouse renovation or new design, look to creating a safer, more user-friendly architecture for members and staff. It is as the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Bill McMahon, Sr. AIA, OAA, is chairman of McMahon Group. a full-service private club consulting firm that has served over 2,000 private clubs around the world. He can be reached at [email protected].