Hutchinson Hall

Presented by:Amy Paek

Seth LeavittTiffany Ng

Taryn FeenstraJeanne Foy

General Info Hutchinson houses the Drama Dept, but was

originally the Women’s Gymnasium. This picture is from 1954, and as you can see, it hasn’t changed much.

Approach and Entrance

The Front Entrance to Hutchinson is very accessible; it includes ramp, railings, and an electronic door opener that are all up to ADA standards.

Programs and Services This map does not display the

accessible entrance to the floor through the lift in the first stairway; it only lists the accessibility of the bathrooms. It also doesn’t depict the exit-only door from the pool to the tennis courts.

Programs and Services This ramp looked like an attempt to

make this door accessible, but it is too unsafe. It looks like it is instead intended for loading heavy items. There are also no railings on these stairs, and though it isn’t required, we think it would be beneficial to install them.

Library The entrance to the library attempts to be

accessible by propping open the door at all times, but the door stop sticks out into the path too far for it to be reasonable. The sign on the wall should be located in a more open/obvious area.

Library Walkways inside are too narrow for

wheelchair access. The shelves are 31 inches apart, but does not take into account protruding books and other objects.

Lockers The bottom lockers are too low, top is

too high. The full-size lockers are better, but the best solution would be for those to have shelves at various levels to avoid height difficulties.

Water Fountain This spout is too high (43 inches). The

handle is difficult to turn, and we think it should be updated to a push-lever fountain.

Lift There is no elevator in this building, so

the main stairway has a lift. The instructions are long, and we were told that it can take 15 minutes for someone with a key to come help operate the machine.

Lift The length of the lift is very long, and

we were told that although it claims to bear 450lbs, it seems very unstable when actually in use.

Costume Shop

This room has a threshold of approx. 5/8th inch, followed by a slope up to the main floor. This should be less than 1/4th inch to make it fully accessible.

Stair Railing The top of these stairs have a

discontinuous railing, completely against regulation. The top section is not connected to the wall, which makes it even more unreliable.

Lounge This room is completely inaccessible

due to crowded furniture. The phone and first aide kit are located on a wall that is obstructed by furniture. This problem could be easily solved.

Bathrooms

There is only one set of accessible bathrooms in the building, but they are still not user-friendly. The mirror is too high, and there is not enough maneuvering room.

TA Staircase

This back stairway is the only access to the 3rd and 4th floors, where the TA offices are located. Unfortunately, there is no alternative to the very long stairs.

Classrooms

Positively, the classrooms themselves are accessible, assuming one can gain access to the floor that they are on.