The Open House : Universal-design homes accommodate people with impaired movement, but appeal to all

After Tom Oleson, 35, was injured in a car crash that left him a paraplegic, he searched for a couple of years for a home that would meet his needs.

Finally, last February, he bought a three-bedroom, two-bath house in a Chino subdivision and moved into it with his parents, who had come to California from Iowa to live with him after his accident.

But the home where Oleson and his folks now live is no ordinary tract house.

Oleson was a superintendent for a framing company when he was paralyzed, so he knew how to work with the home builder to get the modifications he needed to live there.

“I made sure that some things were changed before the house was completed and my parents and I moved in,” said Oleson, who has gone back to school to study psychology and law.

“I had the doorways widened and a bench with a tiled seat installed in the shower,” he said. “I had the cabinets built so I could sit with my legs under them in my wheelchair. And I had the approach, or front walkway, poured so it is level with the house.”

The changes did not cost extra, he said, because he ordered them before the builder had started construction. Such changes can add to the price of a newly built home but not significantly if included in the planning, builders say.

The modifications to Oleson’s house are hardly noticeable, but they make it possible for him to live comfortably in a wheelchair in his own home.

Equally important, the changes will make it possible for Oleson’s parents to live with him as they grow older.

The adaptations that Oleson incorporated into his home are elements of “universal design,” a type of housing and neighborhood planning that is growing slowly but steadily in popularity, thanks to new legislation and an expanded market created by an aging population.

“Universal design” encompasses such features as a wheelchair-accessible entryway, kitchen and baths; single-lever faucets, non-slip flooring, easy-to-reach temperature controls, anti-scald devices and grab bars.

It also includes luminous switches, higher light levels, roll-out shelves and French doors, instead of sliders.

Universal design makes houses and other buildings accessible to everyone in the community, including senior citizens and the disabled, from whose needs universal design grew.

The expression “universal design” was coined by architect Ron Mace of North Carolina, himself a polio victim who uses a wheelchair.

Mace, director of the Center for Accessible Housing at North Carolina University, is also president and director of the architectural firm Barrier Free Environments in Raleigh, N.C.

“I like the term universal design, because it doesn’t say that you are old or disabled, which nobody wants to be,” he said. Universal design is also known as “barrier-free,” “adaptable” and “accessible” design and “life-span housing.”

Using the phrase “universal design” makes accessible housing more acceptable, said Victor Regnier, USC professor of architecture and gerontology.

“If it’s something universally good, that changes the stigma (of being strictly for the disabled or elderly) and makes a statement that whether you’re 2 or 82, you can benefit from it,” he said.

And universal design does benefit everyone, said June Isaacson Kailes, a disability policy consultant from Playa del Rey, because “disability is a predictable and universally common occurrence of the human condition.

“It is common to think about disability in the narrowest sense, that is, a person who uses a wheelchair or uses crutches, but the reality is that most families are touched by such disabilities as hearing and visual impairments, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, lack of endurance, trouble walking, joint pain and stiffness.”

There is an 80% chance of having to use a wheelchair sometime in a lifetime, she added, and there is a 95% chance of experiencing temporary mobility impairment such as a broken leg, sprained ankle or twisted knee.

“We are all subject to such conditions as breaking an arm or a leg and growing older,” said Doug Gardner of Maguire Thomas Partners, developer of the massive, mixed-use Playa Vista project just north of Los Angeles International Airport, where universal design is being considered in the earliest planning stages.

Even people who are not disabled or older can benefit from universal design, because “few of us have the so-called ‘average’ size, weight or reach,” said Al Eisenberg, a lobbyist with the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C.

Homes are often designed for the proverbial “average person,” said Regnier of USC. “We don’t think about the fact that women are shorter than men and outlive them by seven years, so most frail people are females disadvantaged by height.

“We don’t consider that osteoporosis (a bone disease characterized by increasing porosity and brittleness) can create problems in reach capacity, in closet storage and kitchen cabinetry, from middle to old age.”

As the market grows for homes designed for an older population, architects are becoming more sensitive to the needs of people of every size and capability, said Eisenberg.

However, there is still a strong demand for homes with several levels and stairs.

“So often people trade up to the house of their dreams without taking into account that they are growing older,” said Don Redfoot, a lobbyist for the American Assn. of Retired Persons (AARP).

These homes are sometimes called “Peter Pan Housing,” a term popularized by Connecticut architect Pat Hare.

“Peter Pan Housing is housing designed for people who never grow old,” Hare explained. It is best suited for the young but is most often purchased, because of its price, by the middle-aged.

This is starting to change, experts say.

While taking a stroll in Playa del Rey the other day, Kailes saw a neighbor in his 60s who is building a three-story house, with stairs at every level, for himself. “I said, ‘That’s silly,”’ she recalled, “but he replied, ‘See these closets? They’re all stacked and big enough for an elevator shaft.’ ”

Stairs create one of the biggest obstacles and dangers in a home, experts say. An estimated two-thirds of the 10,000 fatalities that occur each year among the elderly has been attributed to falls.

“So we should design homes without steps and level changes,” said Regnier.

For a stair or two, or a small change in levels, a ramp may suffice. Ramps are as handy for parents with baby strollers as they are for the disabled, accessible-housing experts point out.

But if there are many stairs in a home, provisions can be made sometimes for an elevator or a platform lift, also known as a stair glide, which rides along the banister and costs $3,000 to $6,000, according to Mace. An elevator can be as high as $20,000, he added.

Regnier also recommends building a landing in the middle of a stairway and putting a bench on it, where a person walking up or down can take a rest.

Other ways to make stairs safer were suggested by Jon Pynoos, director of the department for policy and services research at the Andrus Gerontology Center at USC. Among his ideas are:

Provide handrails on both sides of the stairwell; make bottom and top steps a different color than the other stairs, since the first and last steps are the most likely to be misjudged, and keep the stairs well lit, with light switches at the top and bottom of the stairwell and nearby windows covered to eliminate glare.

Some people who live in two-story homes are looking ahead to a time when they can’t climb stairs by making all or part of their ground floors accessible, Kailes said.

She recently learned how practical this would have been for her mother, who broke an ankle and has two steps to her garage, three steps to her front door, a basement and a second story.

“If people can’t age in place, they’ll be forced into tax-supported institutions,” Kailes said.

Most housing occupied by older people was built for more active, independent people, and these homes often have stairs, inadequate lighting and bathing facilities that are difficult for seniors to use easily and safely, said Pynoos.

It’s more expensive than building new, but it is possible to put universal-design features into an old home, as the AARP recommends in a free booklet, prepared in response to members’ requests, called “The Do-able Renewable Home.”

“There is a lot more interest in building and remodeling, using universal design, than there was 10 years ago,” said Katie Sloan of the AARP’s consumer affairs department in Washington.

Mace, who first started talking about universal design in the 1970s and has specialized in designing homes using universal design for 18 years, put together a book that was published last fall titled “The Accessible Housing Design File.”

“Universal design is finally catching on,” Mace said. He attributes its growing acceptance to new federal laws and the graying of America.

The just-enacted Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and 1988 Fair Housing Act, which took effect last year and started being implemented in California in March, require such accessible features as ramps and larger baths, doors and hallways in condo and apartment buildings with four or more units.

Detached homes are not affected, but the laws have made builders, architects and remodelers more aware of the need for barrier-free homes in general, housing experts say.

The growing population of seniors, which will swell substantially as Baby Boomers get older, is also creating more awareness of this need. The number of people who are 65 is expected to double by the year 2030.

Seniors already make a formidable lobbying force. This force is expected to exert increasing influence on legislation requiring detached homes to be accessible, though many housing experts agree with David Pullen of the AIA in Washington, who said, “Universal design is not a code issue; it’s a design issue.”

“Codes protect against fire and provide for safety,” he explained. “Codes tell how big a building column has to be so it doesn’t blow over when a hurricane comes. But universal design is just good design. It has to do with achieving usability for people way beyond what they need for safety.

Builders have been slow to include universal-design features in tract houses, but the growing market for barrier-free homes has prompted a few builders and organizations to build some model and experimental homes.

The newest model of universal design, which will be open for two more weeks, is “The Friendly House” in Chino.

Among its features are carpet with short pile, to prevent wheelchair wheels from getting caught or leaving tracks, and walls and floors of contrasting colors, to help the visually impaired.

It also has a ramp between the garage and the house and doorways that are 36 inches instead of 30 inches wide, to permit entry by walker or wheelchair.

For easier reach from a wheelchair, it has lowered switches and thermostat controls--at 42 instead of 48 inches above the floor--and raised electrical outlets and TV and telephone jacks--at 18 instead of 12 inches from the floor. It also has roll-out shelves and lazy susans in the lowered kitchen cabinets.

“We’ve had requests, from people who have seen the house, for a high door to the garage, to accommodate a van,” said Randall W. Lewis, executive vice president of Upland-based Lewis Homes of California, the builder.

The home is in Cypress Park, a Chino development of homes priced in the $200,000 range. The house was also a joint project of the National Council on the Aging and the Southern California Gas Co.

“We were approached to do it,” Lewis said, “and we wanted to do it partly as a service, to show that builders can make changes on new homes so that the homes can be retrofitted easily later.”

Bathroom cabinets were cut so that counters could be lowered later to accommodate a wheelchair, and walls were framed to provide backing for future grab-bar installation around toilets, tubs and showers.

Before the home was completed, Lewis thought prospective buyers would be limited to seniors. Later, he learned that the market also included middle-aged people, looking ahead, and young people, “who want this type of housing so their parents, brothers, sisters or friends who are disabled can visit with dignity.”

Lewis Homes plans to build more Friendly Homes, the next ones probably in Sacramento.

“The most beneficial marketing approach might be to gradually introduce the Friendly Home concept into new homes in all residential developments,” Lewis said.

The idea of a “Friendly Home” is a good one, said Mary Ann Sward, an Oregon State University professor who has conducted workshops on “universal design” for the Oregon State Home Builders Assn.

“Our society doesn’t want to think about getting older and being less able,” she said. “Even getting people to think about needing a place to sit down to work in the kitchen as they get older meets resistance.

“So it’s not the easiest thing to sell a house that is wheelchair accessible; it’s more palatable if the house is considered ‘friendly.’ ”

Or “user friendly,” as the “easy living features” are also described at the Del Webb Corp.’s Phoenix-based Sun Cities, where universal design has been a standard, but solely for seniors, for 30 years.

Among the features are lever door handles, grab bars, single-lever faucets, lower counters, wider doors and hallways, raised outlets and lowered switches.

“We don’t have homes built specially for the handicapped, but it’s easy to put in ramps, higher toilets and extra bars around the toilets,” said Bill Parks, director of architecture for the Del Webb Corp.

Other terms for homes using universal design are “fire-safe” and “adaptable,” as the demonstration house of the National Assn. of Home Builders (NAHB) was labeled.

That house--which has a barrier-free kitchen and baths--also has a motorized carousel for clothing in the master closet; a hand-held shower head; lowered mirrors; shrouds to protect legs from hot water pipes under the sinks and an electric Murphy bed to help create an accessible living environment on the ground floor.

The house also has a bathroom door hinged to swing both ways for easier access; a strobe light or fan hooked up through a security panel, to alert the deaf or blind, and a wheelchair-accessible ramp incorporated into the front entrance in a way so the home has curb appeal and doesn’t look institutional.

Like the Friendly House, the Fire-Safe, Adaptable Demonstration House was built to show, among other things, that houses can be modified at little or no expense, and that the key is in the planning. For instance, the NAHB house has reinforced walls for later installation of grab bars.

Grab bars needn’t look institutional, either. “They come in all kinds of materials and configurations,” Pynoos, of USC, said.

“They come in white epoxy and gold finishes, which look less institutional than stainless steel,” Regnier of USC added. “Towel racks can also be designed to be used as an aid, like a grab bar.”

The Fire-Safe, Adaptable Demonstration House was open to the public for about a year in the NAHB’s Research Park in Bowie, Md., a suburb of Washington.

The house was sold recently, but a 10-minute video of the home called “It’s All in the Planning” is available.

Another universal design home is a remodel known as Accessibility House of Hygeia Medical in Carle Place, N.Y.

It’s a 50-year-old Cape Cod that has been renovated and is constantly being modified to display a barrier-free environment and products, such as special utensils.

Some of the housing features are appliance controls coded in Braille, chair space beneath the kitchen stove top and a short ramp that eliminates the step between split-level floors.

Free tours are conducted regularly said Kathleen Tanker, who is in charge of it.

There is also a universal-design demonstration house in Cleveland, Ohio, which was designed by the nonprofit Housing Resource Center. Tours of the house can be arranged through the Center, which is also in Cleveland.

“We’ve probably had more remodelers and architects than builders looking at it,” said Ray Mikelthun, the Center’s executive director.

Among its features is a kitchen sink, with a set-back drain outlet, and a pull-out cutting board, both of which can be used by a person while sitting or standing. The home also has rocker-type electric switches, no-slip floors, wider halls and doors.

“We also recommend designing kitchens so that they are at least 5 feet wide so wheelchairs can turn in them,” Mikelthun said.

How common such features will become will be determined by market demand and name recognition, said Sward of Oregon State University. “When one of their peers really makes it work, other builders will follow,” she explained.

Universal design still has a long way to go, according to Sloan of the AARP. “Part of the reason is the mindset of builders,” she said. “They don’t understand it, and they don’t understand the size of the market. It’s huge.”

There is some reason for pessimism, Mace admitted. “Builders lobbied against the Fair Housing Act and got it watered down,” he said.

“But there is a huge population that can benefit from universal design, and the first builder to recognize this will be like Chrysler Corp. and the air bag.

“Car manufacturers fought tooth and nail against the air bag, but now, five years later, Chrysler is bragging that they were the first to bring it out.

“I think builders will be the same. They’ll fight to say they’re the first to bring you life-span housing.”

Gardner, at Maguire Thomas, already views universal design as a great marketing tool. “I plan to use it to say, ‘You can grow old at Playa Vista,” he said.

Oakland-based real estate reporter Bradley Inman contributed to this article.

Where to Learn More About Universal Design

RESOURCES

Where to learn more about universal design:

* The Friendly House, in Cypress Park, a development of Lewis Homes, at 13033 Boston Ave., Chino, reached from the Ramona Avenue south exit of the Pomona (60) Freeway; (714) 627-0318. The house is shown by appointment only.

* The Fire-Safe, Adaptable Demonstration House of the National Assn. of Home Builders, in the NAHB’s Research Park, Bowie, Md., a suburb of Washington.

The house is no longer open to the public but can be seen in the 10-minute video, “It’s All in the Planning,” available at $25 a copy plus $2 for postage and handling from the not-for-profit NAHB Research Center, 400 Prince George’s Blvd., Upper Marlboro, Md. 20772-8731. Phone (301) 249-4000.

The publications “A Comprehensive Approach to Retrofitting Homes for a Lifetime” ($12, including postage and handling) and “The Directory of Accessible Building Products” ($2 if bought separately, free if ordered with the retrofitting guide) are also available from the NAHB Research Center.

* Accessibility House of Hygeia Medical, 555 Westbury Ave., Carle Place, N.Y.; (516) 997-8150. Contact Kathleen Tanker for information and tours.

* Accessibility Demonstration House of the nonprofit Housing Resource Center, 1820 W. 48th St., Cleveland, Ohio; (216) 281-4663. Tours of the house are arranged by appointment only. Ray Mikelthun is the center’s executive director.

* “The Accessible Housing Design File,” a compilation of accessible design solutions, put together by Ron Mace, director of the Center for Accessible Housing at North Carolina University and president and director of the architectural firm Barrier Free Environments in Raleigh, N.C., and published by Van Onstrand Reinhold, 7625 Empire Drive, Florence, Kentucky 41042 ($44.95).

* “The Do-able Renewable Home,” a free booklet on remodeling to incorporate universal design, available from the AARP’s Fulfillment Department, 601 E Street N.W., Washington D.C., 20049; (202) 434-3800.