Re: Universal Design means UNIVERSAL design | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com) | |
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 10:51:03 -0600 (MDT) |
On 6/26/2003 11:50 AM, "Fred H Olson" <fholson [at] cohousing.org> wrote: > As far as I know, there is no co-housing community that is designed using > universal design as defined above. Anyone know of one? Our commonhouse is and most of the units are. Of 43 units we have several with interior stairs and/or exterior stairs, but over half are either ground level (no threshold) or accessed by elevator elevator. Only three (?) have porch stairs but could be converted to ramps. All units have extra wide doors on bathrooms, big bathrooms, etc. All our light switches are low. Good lighting (too much actually). All the curbs have cutouts. We have several handicapped parking spots as near to the building as possible. During construction some accessible options were messed up by the contractor and have to be corrected. The path to the hot tub, for example, may be too steep for easy wheelchair access (I don't think it has been tested yet). A kiosk was placed on the entry with a ramp instead of by the stairs. Wheels can still get by but not as easily as designed. Acoustics is a problem, particularly for hearing impaired, but we are working on that. We have not solved the problem of dumpsters for those using wheels or for children. We did manage to get dumpsters that are 4 ft high instead of 5. The lids are still too heavy at that awkward height. You have to hold them up and swing a big bag of trash in. At 5'5", I started using smaller bags. The dumpsters with the side openings (very nice idea) were impossible to open after rust set in (about 2 weeks in humid DC). Sharon -- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L
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Universal Design means UNIVERSAL design Fred H Olson, June 26 2003
- Re: Universal Design means UNIVERSAL design Sharon Villines, June 26 2003
- Re: Universal Design means UNIVERSAL design Kristin Becker, June 30 2003
- Re: Universal Design means UNIVERSAL design Sharon Villines, June 26 2003
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