Unreachable Door Handle
This door handle for bathrooms
prevents people to come in when it is occupied.
-Without needing a lock!
The solution consists of a temporary dysfunctional handle which challenges the concept of a door entrance.
Although there are signs on the outside of toilet doors that tells you it is occupied, it seems like people often act intuitive by trying it out anyway. I asked myself why the sign where it shows ‘occupied’ is apart from the door handle. In this project I explored how to communicate ‘occupied’ through the door handle.
The solution has two obvious benefits:
1) Makes it impossible for people to lock themselves in.
Having no lock, the door handle will benefit small children and other people that are likely to lock themselves in. This could be people with psycological diseases like Alzheimers or physical disabilities like physically impaired hands which may cause problems opening a door lock. From the inside of the bathroom this door handle is opened like normal, just adding a small push. Compared to a traditional door handle the amount of stages when locking is redused, this makes it beneficial for everyone.
2) Works as a sign.
A door handle is an indication of an entrance. When the bathroom is occupied and the door locked, the traditional door handle works as a misleading indication because the sign for ”occupied” exists apart from the door handle. In the new solution there is no longer a misleading indication because the door handle disappears out of reach.
