Wondering how to design a home that works for you through every age and stage of life?

Discover why accessible design done well is sustainability in action, and how it helps your home avoid expensive future modification.

Learn the features worth considering, and the questions to raise with your team before the floor plan is locked in.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 408, and Way #8 of the 44 Ways to Create Your Sustainable Home series here on the podcast. We’re in Section Two: Sustainable Design Strategies.

Way #8 is Future Proofing Your Design with Accessibility.

The word ‘accessibility’ comes with a lot of connotations for some people, and it can immediately bring to mind images of hospital-grade handrails, institutional flooring, and design that feels clinical rather than inclusions you’ll happily consider for your future home. 

However, that is not what accessible design means, and it is not what this episode is about.

What it is about is designing a home that works well for people, at every age and stage of life, without requiring expensive modification when circumstances change.

When we’re talking about accessible design in residential projects, we’re generally talking about homes that are easy to move through and use for people of varying mobility, regardless of age, temporary injury, or permanent condition. It can also be discussed as livable or adaptable.

The features that make a home accessible for a person in a wheelchair are the same features that make it easier to move a sofa in, to bring in groceries, to get a pram through the front door, to manage after a knee operation, and to age in place without needing to sell and move.

Often accessible design isn’t considered a sustainable design strategy, however, one of the key tenets of sustainability is durability, prevention of demolition and waste, and long-term use over time. 

A home that has to be significantly modified later to accommodate the changing needs of its occupants is a home that generates construction waste, incurs additional cost, and consumes resources it didn’t necessarily need to.

Building codes in many countries are increasingly reflecting the inclusion of accessibility requirements in new home construction, to assist with improving the accessibility of the building stock and better support people to age in place in their homes.

I’m also seeing homeowners consider multi-generational living as a way of navigating the increasing cost of housing and its construction, and incorporating accessibility and adaptability into their home designs. 

They can be pooling financial resources across a couple of generations to make their housing projects more affordable. Or they’re considering how they’ll bring their parents to live with them as those parents age and need more care.

The best moment to raise accessibility as a priority is in your Design Brief. Not when the floor plan is almost resolved. Before it starts.

One of my HOME Method members, Sophie, who I’ve chatted to on the podcast, works in the medical industry, and considered aging in place in the renovation of their home. She ended up needing some surgery not too long after their home was complete, and had this to say…

“Well I wasn’t quite expecting to test the ‘aging in place’ principles of the house this early, but right now I’m grateful for single level living, wide hallways, wide doorways, a big walk in shower and adjustable shower head, and a husband who takes time off work to help wash my hair. 

“Whilst this is a relatively small and elective operation with six weeks recovery, in my line of work we see all sorts of things happen to people, so planning for a change in one’s physical ability isn’t doom and gloom, it’s just sensible.”

When you’re creating a home that will last decades, it makes sense to future proof it for what those decades might hold in your life and lifestyle long-term, and incorporate accessible design when creating your sustainable home.

In this Episode, I cover:

• What accessible design actually means in a residential context, including the difference between livable, adaptable, and universal design
• The sustainability argument for accessibility, including durability, prevention of demolition waste, and supporting occupants to age in place
• The financial case, including how late-stage modifications can be hugely expensive compared with thoughtful design at the brief stage
• Specific features worth considering, including step-free entries, wider hallways and doorways, a ground-floor bedroom and bathroom option, and reinforced wall blocking in bathrooms
• How multi-generational living is shaping how some homeowners are approaching accessibility in their projects
• How to raise accessibility with your designer, building certifier and builder, and where in your process it belongs

Plus a whole lot more.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

RESOURCES:

Livable Housing Design Guidelines (Australia) >>> https://accessinstitute.com.au/livable-housing-design/ 

Episode 325 ‘Designing a New Coastal home for Ageing in Place, with June’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-designing-a-new-coastal-home-ageing-in-place/ 

Episode 303 ‘Accessibility in your Home Design, with Jenna Cohen, Honeycomb Access and Design [NCC Series]’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-accessibility-in-home-design-jenna-cohen-honeycomb-access-and-design/ 

’44 Ways to Create a Sustainable Home’ e-guide >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/ways 

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my signature online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your  Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder