Established in 1957, Stony Brook University is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, offering more than 200 undergraduate programs and more than 140 graduate and professional programs. It's currently ranked as the top public university in New York.
Recently, the school included accessibility upgrades as part of a comprehensive $38 million rejuvenation of its Jacob K. Javits Lecture Center, originally built in 1968 and one of the 213 buildings on the 1,450-acre campus.
Curves ahead
Fans of institutional architecture from the 1960s and ’70s will be glad to hear that the renovations preserved the character of the building, famous for having no 90-degree angles (other than doors).
But for Mobility Elevator & Lift, a top Savaria dealer, all the angles and curves meant installing the seven Savaria Omega curved incline platform wheelchair lifts (IPLs) and a single Savaria Delta straight IPL in the pie-shaped lecture halls would take some solid know-how.
“IPLs are an incredible solution for accessibility retrofits,” says Mike Dolan, director of project management at Mobility Elevator & Lift. “When you need them, they’re a safe and reliable way for a person using a wheelchair or mobility device to travel up and down a staircase. When not in use, they fold up compactly to save space, and we can also add out-of-the-way parking of the platform.”
Precision measured for precise fit
The project began with a survey of the lecture hall stairways using the unique Savaria PS4D photo measuring system. Using specialized markers placed on the walls and stairs, PS4D scans the space and takes pinpoint measurements to produce a 3D render of the future Omega unit in situ. The PS4D inputs are then sent to the Savaria factory just outside Toronto, Canada, where CAD drawings are vetted by an in-house engineering team, then out to the shop floor, where high-tech automated machinery and a team of human specialists fabricates the custom rails for each section of the staircase.
“Thank goodness for PS4D,” laughs Dolan. “The unique geometric shapes within Javits posed a challenge, but having this tool made everything much easier and faster, and gave us a great deal of confidence coming into the physical installation process.”
The steps within the lecture halls were quite steep and very long, making the Omega IPL model a great choice, thanks to its ability to travel up to 164 inches on an allowable gradient up to 45 degrees for public building applications.
Posing an unusual challenge: The interior walls of the lecture halls increasingly slope inward as the stairs rise.
“We had to really watch overhead near the top and be very, very precise,” Dolan says.
For a final touch of inclusion, one of the Omega units includes a 180-degree rail bend, with the platform taking its rider right onto the stage.
“That means, whether tenured faculty, guest lecturer, or student presentation, anyone—of any physical ability—can command the spotlight at Javits,” Dolan says. “That matters.”
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No endorsement by Stony Brook University or the State University of New York (SUNY) system of any third-party products or services is expressed or implied by any information, material, or content referred to, included in, or linked from this article.
