Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Universal Design and Co-housing

[Rodney Elin (elin]

> It's good to see attention paid to visitability.  It is a good first step.
> Yet, visitability and useability are two different issues.
>
> I'd be interested to know if anyone has employed "Universal Design"
> principles in co-housing?
>
> Universal design is defined (by Ron Mace - now deceased) as
> "...design of as
> much of the environment as possible to be as useable as possible
> by as many
> people as possible".



>
> Universal design provides for adjustments to the living environment to
> accommodate functional differences and functional change.  It enables a
> person in a wheelchair or a small child to share and function in the same
> environment as a fully physically functioning adult.  A few


At Eastern Village in Montgomery county, Maryland, one of the first things
the leader of our Design Team asked of the Developer was to incorporate
Universal Design throughout the entire building. his response was that UD
would be too expensive, but that all units would be adaptable. This was not
exactly the case in his original proposed designs, because of an incomplete
familiarity with  Maryland building code, he had to slightly redesign most
of the units. Now all units have 30 inch turning radii in kitchens and
bathrooms and the first floor of every unit is visitable.

Universal Design principles are definitely being applied to the design of
our common house and other common spaces.

~Rodney



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