Benoit and Johnathan, now 7, moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in 2005, which includes subtle design features like door handles instead of knobs for easier grasping, a dishwasher and oven that are set into the wall and raised about 18 inches off the ground (a usable height for people standing and sitting), and a stove with control knobs in front of the unit rather than toward the back.Ħ North in St. But the accident left her partially paralyzed, and she was sent to nursing homes for three years while her son stayed with relatives. After six months of intensive care, she was able to breath on her own again. #Handicap accessible apartments driverBenoit was on her way to work four years ago when a driver struck her car. “The whole point is integration,” she said.įor Jacqueline Benoit, integration meant more than living next door to people without disabilities, but being able to live with and take care of her son Johnathan again. Louis neighborhood called the Central West End, is 95 percent leased, with only 20 units occupied by people with disabilities, which is fine by Ms. In addition, there is a corner coffee bar, as well as ground-floor units that can either be retail spaces or private residences. The building is mixed-income as well some renters pay market rates and others receive subsidies (one- and two-bedroom market-rate units range from $750 to $1,150 a month, while the cost of subsidized units depends on personal savings and Social Security income). INDEPENDENCE Jacquelyn Kish was able to resume many of her normal activities after moving into 6 North in St. Baron hired Andrew Trivers, founding architect of Trivers Associates, to create a mixed-use environment for nondisabled people as well as people with a wide range of disabilities. That’s the point: universal.’ And he kind of hesitated and said, ‘O.K., we’ll make it work.’ ” How many units do you want to be universal design?’ I said: ‘Richard, I want all of them to be universal design. “He called me and said: ‘I think I have a good site. Baron, the chairman and chief executive of McCormack Baron Salazar, a nationally known builder of mixed-income urban developments, contacted them with what he thought might be a potential site for the project. Through Paraquad, a nonprofit organization they formed in 1970, they had been searching for a developer who would undertake a universal design project. Mace founded the center, in Raleigh, before he died in 1998 to further develop and integrate the principles into everyday life.Ĭolleen Starkloff and her husband, Max, who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a young man, wanted to build a national model of universal design. The term “universal design” was coined in 1989 by the architect Ron Mace, who developed a set of seven principles, like “low physical effort” and “simple and intuitive use.” Mr. Tim Parker for The New York TimesĪccording to the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, universal design is increasingly available, but few if any other large-scale buildings have used the concept throughout an entire building. This might include kitchen islands with adjustable-height countertops, front-loading washers and dryers, roll-in showers, and no-step entrances, eliminating the need for ramps.īETTER ACCESS Subtle design features like a raised dishwasher and oven are making it easier for people like Jacqueline Benoit, who uses a wheelchair. While building codes set a minimum standard regarding accessibility, universal design is a relatively new concept that seeks to go beyond those codes to make the built environment usable by all people without the need for adaptation. The building, 6 North, opened in March 2005, and it was the first large-scale residential building in the country where all the units were built using what are called universal design principles. Brown’s apartment building - which has bathrooms that are accessible to people in wheelchairs, including roll-in showers - is a milestone itself. For someone who had once hiked 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail, she never thought taking a shower would be such a milestone. She had not been able to do anything more by herself than take sponge baths since she was hit by a drunken driver six years ago, further complicating the multiple sclerosis that had been diagnosed years earlier. BROWN cried tears of joy the first time she took a shower without assistance in her new apartment.
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