both places. More than half the rental apartments
in New York are in walk-up buildings, often with
very old apartments that don’t have easily modifi-
able kitchens and bathrooms. We’ve been looking
at those issues all over the city.” The Design for
Aging committee is partnering with New York City
government to create a guide for owners to make
universal design investments in buildings. However,
adds Hunter, “It’s easier to effect change in the pub-
lic realm. I’ve seen amazing transformations of some
spaces, where they become really active and peo-
ple engage, through pretty modest improvements:
benches, tables, places to get out of the sun.”
Hunter would like to see more intergenerational
housing settings, where senior citizens can inter-
act regularly with people of all ages. It’s difficult,
though, to build housing that works for multiple
generations and feels like it’s part of the neighbor-
hood while still incorporating services and social
spaces that older residents might need, she says.
Hunter points to models like co-housing, a type
of intentional community of private homes with
certain shared facilities and spaces that can help
REMAINING IN HOME, SWEET HOME
While cities look at age-friendly design on a larger scale, interior designers continue to find solutions
for people within their living spaces. Take Manchester, Massachusetts, interior designer Lisa Bonneville,
FASID, NCIDQ, who in recent years has transitioned her 35-year practice, Bonneville Design, to focus
on aging in place.
“It’s really about
looking at what you’re
going to need, how
long you’re going to
be in your home, and
putting the structural
elements in place
when you’re still in
your 50s and 60s,”
Bonneville says.
Bonneville Design
recently oversaw the
second in a multiphase
project to help a
husband and wife, now
in their 60s, remodel
their circa-1968 home
for future needs. A first
phase concentrated
on new landscaping
to improve access into
the house without
steps. More recently,
a dormer was added
upstairs to double the
size of two bathrooms,
making enough room
for a wheelchair.
Floating Douglas fir
vanities allow easy
standing or seated
access, while a roll-in
shower stall was made
large enough to allow
for a built-in bench and
for a caregiver to enter.
A wall-hung toilet with
a bidet-like washlet
seat and other features
usable at the push
of a button prolong
independence and
privacy. Throughout
the house, Bonneville
also widened
doors and removed
thresholds to increase
mobility, and lighting
was augmented to
provide “ample and
dimmable layered
lighting: what you
need, when you need
it, both ambient and
accent,” the designer
explains. Next up,
Bonneville and the
homeowners plan to
remodel the kitchen,
including a lift in the
enclosed porch to
the garage alongside
entry steps. A future
remodel will add an
elevator, ensuring floor-
to-floor access to three
levels of living space
including second-
floor bedrooms. Not
all homes need to be
designed to allocate
space for first-floor
bedrooms, says
Bonneville.
Although each of
these remodel stages
brings a price tag,
Bonneville believes it’s
still a cost-effective
endeavor. “One third
of your life might come
in retirement age,” she
says. “It’s less expensive
to alter your home to
make it accessible than
to move into assisted
living. And it really
increases the market
size of who can live in
that house.”
LEARN MORE
AND EARN CEUs
A webinar by Lisa
Bonneville, FASID,
NCIDQ, on aging in
place, “Planning Ahead
to Age at Home—A
Price Tag with a Happy
Ending,” will debut on
the ASID Academy web
page in March.
www.asid.org/
education/
ASID-Academy
Among the universal design
elements Lisa Bonneville
incorporated for her clients
is a bathroom geared toward
wheelchair access with optimal
spatial considerations, including
widened doors, level thresholds,
open base vanities, a toilet with
accessible range-of-motion
features, and an adjustable,
hand-held shower.
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