this page: my house – any one in a wheelchair can visit, everyone else can comment.
In 2005, one of my very forward-thinking clients, Peter and Alison Faid, asked for a house that would be their final one – they never wanted to have to move again. Thinking sustainably, they wanted to age in place and asked for five specific things: zero-step entrances at the front door and from the garage, a three-floor elevator, 3’-wide doors, wheelchair-sized bathrooms and a super-insulated building envelope with a high efficiency heating system. None of these got in the way of also applying Vitruvius’s principles of firmness, commodity and delight.
Just before I did the Faid house, I renovated my own 1968 1400-square foot bungalow, adding a second story to double the size of the house. We have everything the Faid’s wanted except the elevator, but its three key features are zero-step entrances, 3’ doors and a wheelchair accessible bathroom on the ground floor. Three years later I received a hand-written, anonymous note that said, ‘Your house is a monstrosity! It blights the neighborhood’. I have framed this letter as a reminder that there is more to building design than appearance. There will always be debate on what is aesthetically pleasing, for this is a subjective issue. However, there is no debating whether there is value in designing to accommodate as many people as possible in the best possible way. v
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On Site review 23
Small Things
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