Cohousing-L Mailing List: Fwd: Re: upstairs in common house and wheelchair accessibility

[Paul Kilduff (LibertyPaulMary]

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I sent this to the list on the 15th and I did not receive it.  Please
forgive if this is a repeat.  Paul

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From: LibertyPaulMary [at] webtv.net (Paul Kilduff)
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 11:29:16 -0400
To: cohousing-l [at] freedom.mtn.org
Subject: Re: upstairs in common house and wheelchair accessibility

from Paul Kilduff, Liberty Village, MD:

I'm late responding to the series about wheelchair (stroller, etc)
accessibility in common houses, but would like to add the following
question to the discussion:

What about an INTERIOR ramp?

Our current, tentative C H design includes a lift.  The plan calls for a
basement, main floor, and second floor (although no rooftop deck, which
I thought would be cool!), all accessible via lift.  The L discussion
makes me wonder about having no stairs at all, but instead a ramp which
would go around the inside of the C H, used by climbers and non-climbers
alike.  No stairs, just interior ramps.  Could this be made to work?  It
could be an exciting motif.

On a different track, I wonder: do we go back to basics enough when we
think about C H design?  I remember during our C H workshop with Chuck,
a couple of us had an idea, perhaps unworkable, about an underground C
H, all on one level, with skylights, which would lie under the village
green, and connect to all the houses.  It never came up.  Okay, maybe
it's a goofy idea, but, to me, the C H workshop process did not seem to
include the possibility of radical solutions, of zero assumptions.  I
remember it as frustrating.

best -- Paul Kilduff

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