In this study the design of the sanitary ware and bathrooms are examined, concentrating on small bathrooms and changing design aspects of bathrooms. The design considerations of bathrooms and the design of the bath tub, wash basin and toilet which forms the sanitary ware sets in bathrooms is reviewed as for being dominant elements of bathroom design.

The number of older persons is increasing, both in actual number and as a percentage of the population. As an individual ages his or her body changes and the ability to deal with the demands of an environment usually decreases. A well designed, supportive environment may help older persons to utilize their homes more fully, more safely, and allow them to live independently in their homes longer. Use of kitchens and bathrooms may present the greatest challenge and the greatest safety hazard and in order to remain independent, an older person must be able to use these rooms fully and safely. The purpose of this study was to determine what supportive feature are being included in the kitchens and bathrooms of homes being built for persons living in age-restricted retirement communities. A list of research and design recommendations based on empirical research was compiled and ordered into categories of supportive features for general, kitchen, and bathroom design for seniors. Design recommendations were provided for most elements in kitchens and bathrooms designed for senior citizens and point values were assigned to individual supportive features on the basis of safety and ease of use. Based on this evidence, two data collection tools were created to assess kitchens and bathroom of homes designed for senior living. Hypotheses were developed relating characteristics of the locations of the retirement communities, characteristics of the retirement communities, and characteristics of the individual homes to the percentage of possible points earned in kitchens and bathrooms of homes studied. Age-restricted retirement communities were identified and contacted by telephone to determine if they met the criteria for inclusion in the study and permission to study the retirement communities was obtained from community representatives. Sixty homes in 23 communities from four states were surveyed using the data collection tools and photographed for this study. Data were entered into a statistical computer program and a scoring system for evaluating and comparing kitchens, bathrooms of different types, and total homes was developed. Kitchens in the retirement community homes studied had 46% - 76% of the possible number of recommended supportive kitchen features. Bathrooms had 48% - 57%, bathtubs had 58%, and separate showers had 48% - 52% of the possible number of recommended supportive bathroom features. Kitchens in larger, more expensive retirement homes had higher Kitchen Percentage Scores and bathrooms in communities that were developed by not-for-profit communities had higher Bathroom Percentage Scores. The kitchen and bathroom assessment tools created for this study are the result of compiling 40 years of research recommendations. These tools provide the means to compare kitchens and bathrooms of different homes, regardless of the configuration or combination of appliances and fixtures within the rooms. Scores of different rooms or houses can be compared using either the total score or the percentage score for number of supportive features. Comparisons can be made without consideration for the style, size, or degree of opulence in the homes. The assessment tools can be refined for use by members of different professions. / Ph. D.

Skanska is one of the leading construction companies in Sweden when it comes to sustainable construction. Buildings are responsible for 40 % of both the global energy consumption and the global resources. With the current demand on housing, the building pace needs to increase whilst improving on sustainability. The level of industrialisation in the construction sector is still low compared to other sectors. Prefabricated components such as walls or slabs are common and during the last decade, prefabricated bathroom modules (henceforth referred as pods) have been introduced and are now used quite frequently in commercial buildings. A pod is a completely factory manufactured bathroom that is just lifted in place. The aim of this master thesis is to evaluate pods from a sustainable perspective and compare them to a traditional site built bathroom. Data is collected through field studies, interviews, a survey, reference projects and research.The analysis consists of seven key factors, Design, Human Resources, Waste, Time, Transport, Economy and Energy. The analysis resulted in improving four of the seven key factors when using pods; Human resources, waste, time and economy. The main benefit was reduced production time and thereby large cost savings, that for the reference project was 6,6 % of the total project cost. Usually, life cycle costs are not included in the initial costings, which gives a misleading price. Pods are a suitable concept for projects with at least 25-30 bathrooms, where the end user does not affect the design and where there is at least 20 bathrooms for each model. / Skanska är ett av de ledande byggföretagen inom hållbarhet i Sverige. Byggnader står för 40 % av både den globala energianvändningen och de globala resurserna. På grund av dagens rådande bostadsbrist behöver byggtakten öka och samtidigt bli hållbarare. Industrialiseringen inom byggsektorn är jämfört med andra branscher låg, men prefabricerade komponenter såsom väggar och bjälklag används i stor utsträckning. Under det senaste decenniet har även prefabricerade badrumsmoduler blivit allt vanligare i kommersiella projekt. En modul är ett komplett badrum, tillverkat i fabrik, som enbart lyfts på plats och kopplas in. Syftet med arbetet är att utvärdera modulkonceptet ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv och att jämföra det med ett traditionellt platsbyggt badrum. Data har samlats in genom studiebesök, intervjuer, enkät, referensprojekt och bakgrundsstudier. Analysen baseras på sju nyckeltal, design, personalresurser, spill och förluster, tid, transport, ekonomi samt energi. Användning av moduler resulterar i en förbättring i fyra av sju nyckeltal, personalresurser, spill och förluster, tid och ekonomi. Största fördelen är den förkortade produktionstiden, vilket i sin tur leder till minskade kostnader. För referensprojektet blev kostnadsbesparingarna 6,6 % av den totala projektkostnaden. Vanligtvis är livscykelkostnader i dagsläget inte inräknade i de initiala kalkylerna, vilket ger en missvisande projektkostnad. Moduler är lämpade för projekt med minst 25-30 badrum, där slutanvändaren inte påverkar design och där det är minst 20 badrum per modell.