Properties are normally planned for persons with average height, build and agility. Same goes for furniture and plants. Stairs and bells, as well as gardens and common spaces and accesses no less. This translates in a limited use by those not included in the above parameters.

Said that, we immediately think of those stricken by more or less forms of disability, but we don't think of children, elderly and to those bearing temporary invalidities such as plaster casts, convalescents or pregnant subjects.

How many times our kids trip over carpets or hit their heads against a table because they don't see it, as well as our elderly who sometime have difficulties in finding things on little functional working planes because of an unsuitable color or limit themselves in eating because access to the refrigerator is difficult, use of the oven too or washing dishes becomes an enterprise if toiling in taking them from the draining rack or put them back after washing.

Often small low cost interventions can resolve limitations of these types and allow their more serene and safe use.

Handicapped

Through such definition we mean all those people who, for various reasons, do not have the possibility of utilizing the properties and relative service spaces like the other people defined "normal". In this category belong handicapped people, persons affected by dwarfing or gigantism, people with degenerating illnesses, each with different characteristics and needs among them.

But also persons with advanced age and in perfect physical conditions, who are not included in any of the above categories, can be considered, for all practical purposes, "otherwise able", because his or her physical condition is similar to a young person who lives a daily life with constantly misted over eye-glasses, earplugs, a weight of fifteen kilograms on the shoulders, a corset tight around the waist limiting their movements.

The dish rack is too high, oven door too low, working plane of a color such to create confusion to a limited sight; thousands of details that analyzed with due consideration and skill would certainly allow an "otherwise able" to be a "normal able" subject.

Planning facilities, furniture, accessories, passages, greens and services from another perspective is not a simple job because the legislative provisions on the subject are minimal and often issued at regional levels, documentations and manuals on the subject are very limited, specialized physiotherapists and doctors suggest "personal" solutions, just like the few designers trying their best in this filed.

There are then few cases of "different temporary ability", such as partial or total immobilization of one or more limbs (bandaging, surgery or cast), pregnancy and long-term illnesses.

These situations do not need a "radical" intervention in designing facilities or accessories, exactly because temporary, but understanding how to solve in short times the problem by the user and find the most suitable solution with lower "impact" on the other family members and at contained costs, allows the affected subject to live his or her daily life during such period and perhaps help reduce the times for complete recovery.

Even a child introduced inside an environment created for adults must be considered as an "an otherwise able" if some expedients are not implemented.

We think of the dream house: carpets, beautiful furniture, glass tables, internal staircases taking to the suspended platforms without handrail for protection, balconies rails more often built with horizontal railings, etc.

A baby arrives and problems begin: tripping on the carpet, scratches the furniture by playing with a toy car, the glass table can break, the baby's inborn curiosity drives him to the upper-floor up the stairs or on the terrace where protective barriers are inexistent or not sufficient for a small body or worst yet they are inviting for a climb to overcome them, the pot's handle protruding out in the kitchen is seen as an additional handhold...

How many accidents can be prevented, but us "grown-ups" just don't see them if not when it's too late. There is nothing new to invent for "making safe" homes or public facilities, other than temporary solutions, but well fitted in the environment and especially not too costly, which would allow us to return to the original context as the baby grows.

In the past we have carried out some interventions commissioned by elderly who requested repair or adjustments of the shutters because they had become "stiff", but the problem were not the shutters; the market offers various solutions e costs, from the mechanical reducer to the electric winder. And based on the Client's need and willingness, we need to act.

Past experience has taught us much, and so we have decided to tackle this market's "niche" to supply our Clients an additional service, even just consultancy.

The same goes for homes, B&G Studio S.r.l. considers also access spaces, gardens, green, either public or private, commercial facilities, etc, because architectural barriers and any sources of danger must be avoided during the planning stage, without forgetting the aesthetic factor and design of the environment.

The simple garden can be dangerous for a child if it is planted with yews, narcissuses, oleanders or lilies of the valley, highly toxic plants, so we can opt for other types of plants with similar returns and characteristics, but decisively safe.

Where possible we avoid stairs preferring ramps, we try to add protection around lakes and fountains in harmony with the environment and we light the threadable areas with devices screened halfway on the upper part to avoid optical pollution; we provide acoustic warnings in strategic points to allow their utilization by blinds, for that reason even the scents from plants or flowers can be of references during the beautiful season, so we plan the green not just based on colors, but also on perfumes rather than consistency and form of leaves and stalk.

Obviously Plans for interiors, plants and green will be then processed by the Professionals of the sector, based on the above specifications.