Architects & Custom Designers of Homes Embraced by Livable Gardens

Living in a
"GardenHome"
is like living
a dream come true!

About "Universal Design"
–vs– "Accessible Design".

     In the main, the difference between the two are as stark as black and white. Most of today's Accessible Design elements, especially those found on government buildings or corporate headquarters, are obvious (grudging) afterthoughts that usually look as ugly as sin and destroy the grandeur of the buildings they adorn.  Ostensibly meant to help "The Disabled" navigate and use a building designed for normal folks, they achieve several other goals as well.  For one, they heap the blame for the ugly transformation of the building onto the shoulders of the disabled; "That this building looks so terrible now is your fault, not ours".  For another, they shout; "Don't sue us if you should get hurt here or if you can't use these facilities in a way normal people can!  (For a laugh or a frown, go to " ADA Standards For Accessible Design."  Be informed, ahem, that this is the US Dept of Justice speaking here – definitely NOT the US Dept of "Human Relations".)  So, in the governmental and corporate worlds, "Accessible Design" means just what it says.  It simply makes a building more accessible to people with physical handicaps and disabilities, no more, no less.  With the exception of one or, perhaps, two loudly marked                  bathrooms on each floor, don't expect to find any additional attempts to render the building more user-friendly to anyone, least of all to the disabled!

     Sad to say, the situation is not a whole lot better today in the case of single family homes as well.  There Accessible Design Elements usually are equally ugly and transformational.  But worst of all, they serve to inform (warn) all passers-by that whoever lives here is (brrrr ) handicapped or disabled – someone to pity and to shy away from!

     If, from the above, you gather that we don't like "Accessible Design", you are right!  We think it is overtly institutional in character and unfriendly to the point almost of being inhumane.  In our (not so) humble opinion, homes and buildings should be designed such ...

     1.)  that they are "User-Friendly", to the nth degree, to ALL people, the old and the young, the male and the female, the quick and the slow, the big and the small, the weak and the strong, regardless of their physical condition, handicaps or disabilities if any, and ...

     2.) that they are indistinguishable on the out- as well as on the inside from "normal" buildings or homes. 

     If that means that, in the case of older buildings, any or all essential interior and exterior features must be totally re-designed and rebuilt to be "humanely" accessible to the disabled, so be it!

That, by the way, is the ethos behind "Universal Design".