Design For True Inclusivity: Behind Landscape Forms’ Contour Accessible Table System

presented by Landscape Forms

Many tables on the market today make claims of wheelchair accessibility, but looking more closely at their specifications, it becomes clear that they just don’t fully comply with the existing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design. The user experience those products offer is considerably lacking in the beauty and quality of the experience offered on other products.

Addressing this lack of inclusivity while setting the standard for beauty and durability in ADA-compliant site furnishings was the central challenge in Landscape Forms’ recent Contour table project — a challenge for which New York City-based industrial designer and accessible design expert, Ignacio Ciocchini, was more than well equipped.

For Ciocchini, success in this endeavor meant creating a solution that facilitates an elevated yet totally universal user experience. “We focused relentlessly on understanding this problem and the existing regulations, designing for elegance and simplicity, and importantly, ensuring that the experience must be the same for all users — no shortcuts allowed,” the designer says.

Achieving this aim involved deep consideration about how Contour would interact with its potential surroundings. If the table were impeded in any way by certain site features or environmental factors, its ability to achieve true inclusivity and a universal user experience would be limited. The solution was to design not any one singular table, but a system of modular components that could be assembled in different ways to adapt to different circumstances.

In its final design, the Contour system includes round, gently rounded square and gently rounded rectangular tabletops, each constructed from powdercoated steel, and each offered in two different sizes. These tabletops are then paired with either four pill-shaped legs that protrude slightly from the edge of the table or a truncated-cone pedestal that’s sculpted to maximize knee and leg clearance underneath. Across a combination of modular components, every seat at every Contour table can be fully compliant with ADA regulations. Unique to Contour is the promise of a universal user experience — equally accessible, intuitive, comfortable and inviting for users of all abilities.

By combining Ciocchini’s expertise in accessible design and modular product platforms with Landscape Forms’ durable, public-space-ready construction and high-design, craft manufacturing refinement, Contour foresees a future where true inclusivity is the rule — not the exception — in outdoor space. “We’re changing the model such that any person could walk into a space with Contour tables, and they wouldn’t notice any difference. They’d just see a space filled with beautiful, modern tables,” says Landscape Forms Chief Innovation Officer, Kirt Martin. “However, if you use a wheelchair and you enter this same space, you’ll immediately pick up on the design differences and their purpose will be clear. And I think that’s a really meaningful experience to create.”