Ground has been broken for what is to be the Living In Place Institute’s future Idea Home, a concept home highlighting how home automation and design that can be used to foster independent living scenarios for homeowners worldwide.
Located in The Enclave, a neighborhood southwest of Louisville’s Harper Lake, the Idea Home concept took shape after the home of Louie Delaware, Founder and President of The Living In Place Institute, was among 1,084 homes destroyed in the Marshall Wildfire, Dec. 30, 2021.
Unlike the original home, the new design will require no steps to enter from either street or garage, with no thresholds. All other rooms, baths and areas will be equally accessible.
“For my family and me, this has become a chance to retrieve an ongoing benefit for people of all ages and capabilities, from what otherwise has been a tragedy of huge proportion,” says Delaware, who conducted the groundbreaking ceremony.
Delaware notes that over recent decades, Denver has seen a wave of ranch style homes arrive for the market of age-50-plus buyers, but with very few of them that show anything close to zero-step entries and other key accommodations.
Meanwhile, a vast majority of the older population intends to age at home—some 76% of Americans aged 50 and older according to a 2018 report by AARP. Over 13% of Americans face a physical and/or cognitive disability that average homes are not designed to serve, and the number grows as the population ages.
“The Living In Place Institute Idea Home will show priorities for a new generation of living spaces that are accessible, healthy, safe, secure, beautiful, functional and connected,” says Dani Polidor, Vice President Sales & Marketing at the Living In Place Institute. “This will be the way all homes should be built.”
Idea Home an Educational Resource for Future Living in Place Projects
The Living in Place Institute promotes accessible, healthy, safe homes designed to meet people’s needs as they age or confront other challenges in life. In addition to endorsing the idea of Living In Place, the Institute trains housing and other professionals to create the capability of Living In Place as they work to design and build the next generation of homes, condominiums and apartments.
Visitors to the completed Idea Home will see similar modifications that work in favor of families facing a broad range of commonplace challenges, including younger families coping with kids with autism and other developmental disabilities, and of people dealing with an accident or a cognitive disability.
Those will include halls and doorways designed for walkers and wheelchairs; kitchen and baths with counters and cabinetry designed to accommodate users with disabilities; and lighting, safety and smart-home technologies that eliminate a wide range of accessibility issues and safety risks.
Builder Tim Coonce of Niwot-based Porchfront Homes has been selected for the Idea Home project. Danielian Associates of Irvine, Calif., is creating the architecture. Delaware is working with two National Kitchen and Bath Association Certified Master Kitchen and Bath Designers, Maria Stapperfenne and Barbara Barton, each a Certified Living In Place Professional; along with Lighting Designer Jaye Morrow of Denver-based Urban Lights; and Interior Designer Colleen Johnson. Robert August of Northstar Synergies, an internationally recognized marketing expert, is directing the promotional and open house activities.
You can follow construction progress on the Idea Home and sign up for the Living In Place Institute Newsletter via the website at LivingInPlace.Institute. To sign up for a 16-hour training leading to a CLIPP certification, contact Dani Polidor at 585-474-5677 or visit LivingInPlace.Institute.
