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Universal Design

Imagine building a dream custom home, spending countless days, months, and hours to determine each and every minute detail, only to find all of your hard work and vision fail to meet your needs. This can be the case if you or one of your family members suffers an accident or other life situation that forces them to become wheelchair dependent.

The unfortunate truth is that we are all getting older and there is always the danger that something might happen to us or one of our loved ones. For that reason, we at Pacific Western Developments are staunch supporters of universal design for new homes. Universal design is described as:

Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible,
without the need for adaptation or specialized design.

–Ron Mace

Many people tend to shy away from the concept of universal design because, as humans, we tend to avoid thinking about topics which make us feel uncomfortable, and I can think of nothing more uncomfortable than imagining myself or a loved one being forced into a wheelchair, or suffering from another type of disability.

Universal design, however, attempts to create homes that while accommodating persons with mobility difficulties and a host of other physical and mental illnesses, provides increased livability to regular, healthy persons as well. As our population ages, we all have loved ones that suffer from decreased ability, whether it be from age, illness, or accident. Making our homes more inviting and comfortable to those people is another benefit of universal design.

The simple widening of doorways, thoughtful placement of light fixtures and outlets, and barrier free entry ways provides all residents and/or visitors to a universally designed home with added benefit, be they healthy or disabled. Such items make a home more pleasant, and do not stand out very much, meaning your home will have all of the advantages without the traditional “institutional” feel of many homes built to accommodate such requirements. Click here to view pictures from our Richmond Flex House and see the warmth created in that home through enhanced design and careful thought.

Many of these items need not be prohibitively expensive or cumbersome to include in the design of any new homes. If planned well, a home can provide a lifetime of use to its occupants, and create stable communities in which negations of families can love and grow together. By not having to pack and move due to life changes, Universally Designed homes can accommodate owners equally, and without causing either group to make sacrifices for either aesthetics or functionality.

Pacific Western Developments is an industry leader in this field of housing and we pride ourselves on being amongst an elite group of builders that can design and build homes to meet the criteria of Universal Design. Let the experts at Pacific Western work with you to develop, design, build your ultimate custom dream home, in which you may live for the rest of your life. Contact us today to arrange for a no cost consultation to review the benefits you and your family will receive by building a Universal Home.

To find out more, visit the CMHC website for Flex Housing at http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/flho/index.cfm. Flex Housing is the term the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) have given to universal design, and we are proud to have worked with the CMHC and the City of Richmond to build the Richmond Flex House. This demonstration project displayed the ideas of universal design including wheel chair accessibility..