Privacy booths, or office pods, are becoming a trend in office settings, especially in open office plans where there is little to no sound transmission separation. Companies typically want to install several of these pods through a given floor level, but they tend to only propose the smallest sized pods to save space, which are usually only about three foot by three foot in plan view. The pod manufacturers do make larger sized pods and market them as ‘ADA accessible’. They also tend to want their pods to be looked at as pieces of furniture rather than as a room, and they provide power operated doors to mitigate the lack of a complying door maneuvering clearance from inside of the pod.

I’m researching how other jurisdictions are processing these office pod requests, as there appears to be a wide range of interpretation of how these pods can be considered as being accessible and the percentage of pods that must be accessible. 

Thanks in advance for your input.

Published Tuesday, June 17, 2025