Vancouver building council bans the doorknob

Say goodbye to doorknobs...they are about to become a thing of the past.

Vancouver has adopted new amendments to the city building code that will require lever handles on all doors for all new construction in the city, effective March 2014. In the past, changes that have been made in Vancouver have spread to all of B.C....then to all of Canada.

So why levers instead of knobs? It all comes back to the concept of universal design - making environments universally acceptable to all members of the population. Levers are easier to open than knobs, they can be opened with an elbow or arm, they don't have to be gripped.

Vancouver City Hall is already adapting to these changes, replacing all the original doorknobs (pictured here) with
levers.

For more information on the disappearance of the door knob check out this article by the Vancouver Sun:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Vancouver+humble+doorknob+likely+trendsetter/9173543/story.html