Blog
Visual Contrast in Washroom Design
Visual contrast in washrooms is often a question which comes up in the world of design today.
Many new design, build and refurbishment projects require this to be considered in order for the project to comply with Approved Doc M of Building Regulations and The Equality Act.
These regulations involve a number of areas where this should be considered in room design, below we have put together some points that should be considered when designing washrooms to meet these regulations:
Colour Differentiation – visually impaired people are often less confident when differentiating colours therefore colour difference needs to be above a certain level to allow for this and improve their confidence with colour differentiation.
This is particularly necessary for the large areas and products in the room
Regulation states that the colour of ceilings, walls, doors and floors should be sufficiently differentiated from each other, we recommend this applies to Washroom Cubicles, Wall Panelling (particularly full height) and Vanity Units in washrooms.
- Especially the Cubicle doors are recommended to be colour contrast with the Pilasters and Walls if they are enclosed cubicles.
- It is also recommended that the Cubicles and Wall Panelling are not a similar colour or shade to the ceiling or flooring the room – a difference of around 30 LRV points between each is recommended – (The LRV is the Light Reflectance Value – it can be found for our laminate colours underneath each option in our Colour Selector)
- The sanitaryware in the washroom is required to be a different colour to the walls and panelling
- Door handles are also required to be a different colour to the door colour, we have already allowed for this in providing our standard fittings in metal finish, which contrasts enough with all our laminate colours.
