Universal Design Renovations

Harry Sprintz our access planner and architect has been pretty busy working on what the exterior of the merimbula Imlay street property might look like after a major make-over. It’s almost like one of those tacky TV shows! He has spent a lot of time thinking about the site, its context to the spectacular views and the prevailing weather patterns in the area.

Here is what he thinks that the property would look like after the make-over.

     
After                        Before

Click on the above image to see a larger view.

As the weather in Merimbula is very temperate, there has been a big focus on the decking areas. I feel we are to become a family of “deck dwellers”. There is also a garden that is suitable to be tended by Desiree who is wheel chair bound.

Some of the other features of the design include:

• An independant living unit.
• Extra wide doorways
• Variable height work surfaces.
• Absence of sills and protuding door tracks.
• Natural lighting.
• Wheelchair friendly living areas.
• Electric scooter/wheelchair charging station.
• Centralised communications/server cabinet.
• Domestic hydraulic lift.

The project is starting to take shape.

I will post further plans of the internals as they come to hand.

I spent at least 2 hours with Harry Sprintz the architect and disability access planner detailing what my “grand plan” for the Merimbula property looked like.

Basically I wanted to renovate the duplex so that it provided an environment that was easy to live in for Desiree and I, now that she is unable to walk and is confined to a wheelchair. In addition I felt that we could renovate the lower unit so that it could be used as a short stay holiday respite venue for people with disabillities and their carers. I knew in Merimbula there were few properties that were suitable for this purpose.

Harry was excited about being offered an opportunity to become involved in such a project. His belief is that this project can be used as an “exemplar” project showcasing the many aspects of Universal Design.

He went away and put together a quotation for completing the job. As the project was going to be managed by myself, he suggested that rather than adopt the typical percentage of job approach, that the job was so unique and appealing that he was prepared to do it at a significantly reduced hourly rate.

He dissected the project into three stages

1. Preliminary consulting and design stage – $2,250
2. Design development stage – $3,750
3. Contract documentation stage – $5,850

A total of $11,850. This compared with a traditional cost method that would approach $18,000.

Desiree and I thought this through over a few days and decided to accept Harry’s offer.

You can download the full quotation document by clicking the link below.

Harry Sprintz Merimbula Access Planning Project Quotation

I was listening to our local ABC radio program the other day and caught the tail end of a program called Design Matters. Interviewed on this program was an architect named Harry Sprintz. Harry was detailing how he thought that housing design today could be vastly improved to accommodate people with disabilities. If we were to embrace the therories of Universal Desgn, people could live in thier houses longer. This would take pressure off future governments in terms of providing and funding nursing homes.

I did some internet searching and found a telephone number for Harrry and placed a call. We spent almost an hour on the phone as he detailed his experience and that designing homes that were applicable to all was his passion.

I knew that I had found partner to work with on the Merimbula project. Here is a picture of Harry and a paper that he had written dealing with social responsibility in architecture.

Social Responsibility in Architecture

Now that we have secured the property in Imlay Street Merimbula we need to put together a design brief for an architect. This will off course need to take into account the principles of Universal Design.
After doing a significant amount of research we have put together a design brief that we can use as a starting point and a discussion paper with prospective architects.

If you want to download our brief for free here it is.

Merimbula Universal Design Architects Brief

I hope that this will provide food for thought for anyone who is doing a project similar to ours.

The vendor of the house in Imlay Street has accepted our offer so now we are about to start to renovate the place to take advantage of the spectacular views.

We will convert the place into a dual occupancy so that we can let the lower floor out people who have access issues and want to have a vacation or holiday in Merimbula. Of course we will use the principles of Universal Design to ensure access for all.

The next step will be to write up a specification and to find an architect who is familiar with Universal Design.