Universal Design

Mention adding Universal Design principles to new home building and remodeling projects and people often recoil as images of hospital bathrooms with their stainless steel grab bars and impersonal curbless showers come to mind. Older homeowners argue that having a house all on one floor will be their solution to the housing dilemma, while younger owners, thinking universal design is only for the elderly, say they have no need for such considerations. Both groups are drastically wrong.

Universal Design is about creating environments in which people can function regardless of their age or their physical limitations. It is an old-school idea, perhaps, but it is one in which homes are designed so their owners can live in them their entire lives, homes where families can raise their children, live as empty-nesters, and function independently throughout their golden years. Universal design is about designing homes where the young, as well as the elderly, can live safely. It is about having home designs that accommodate life as it happens – spraining an ankle, breaking an arm or a leg, having surgery and not being able to climb the stairs.

Universal Design is so much more than designing homes to age in; it is about designing homes that will accommodate a lifetime of experiences.

It is is about designing homes for the ages.