Abstract
The accessibility of the general environment of a country implies how
much the society care about the weak tribal is thus an important indicator of
social civilization. Taiwan, since the start of the promotion of accessible
environment from 1988, was invested much efforts. At the same time, the
related code, after being revised for several times within the years, is now
close to fully established. As now that there are clear code to follow for both
new-built or old buildings, with few exceptions such as the historical
buildings, which involves the reservation of precious relics and are harder to
develop detailed regulations.
Base on the civil rights, and taking into consideration that the number of
aged population in Taiwan is increasing, how to improve the environment in
order to expend the life cycle of physically challenged people and ensure they
have the same right and chance as everyone else to participate social activities
is one of the many concerns. This research will be focusing on the possible
related improvement of historical buildings, discussing and analyzing the
different ways of improve which enable the body barriers to visit but at the
same time meets the requirement of the historical heritage preserving
standard. We expected that, through detailed and carefully planning, these
buildings could become more convenient and all of the citizens will have the
chance to visit and enjoy all kinds of precious heritage within the country.
This research was carried by reviewing bibliographies, investigating of
Taiwan’s historical buildings, comparing the regulation with America and the
historical buildings of Japan, Italy, and Turkey. The research concluded several
points as follow：
1. Most monuments and historical buildings in Taiwan have some barriers.
2. It is very difficult to improve an historical building into accessible and
usable. Therefore, America Disability Act Guideline provide flexible
standard for the modification of historical buildings.
In order to construct accessible buildings for the future and to develop the
most efficiency of the modification of historical buildings, the research
suggested some substitute projects in modifying the existed buildings and site.
The suggestions will be sent to Department of Construction and county
government to apply to the historical buildings modification. However, to
reach a real Barrier-free life, besides historical buildings, sidewalks, parks,
public facilities and mass transportations must also be accessible. The
improvement in buildings might seem insignificant, but it is a start, a step
toward a barrier-free future environment.
In the future, we must continue in improving the accessibility of the
whole environment. It is expected that by constructing an accessible and usable
environment we would be better prepared for the incoming aged society.