Universal Design

There is little that isn’t changing in our world today -- a trite but nonetheless true statement. I got a firsthand look at just how much has changed -- and how fast -- when I tried to help my fourth grade daughter with long division. To make a long story short, the only thing my knowledge of the subject and hers have in common is the answer. "Mom, your way is the old-fashioned way," she explained. Who knew long division could be old-fashioned?

My most recent addition to the list of things changed is words and their meanings -- case in point, universal design. Used to be universal design in residential building only meant the design and construction of homes to accommodate the broadest spectrum of human abilities.

In today’s luxury home building arena, universal design has a new meaning: creating houses that can exist or operate everywhere under all conditions -- homes that are, indeed, universal.

It used to be that you could look at a house and immediately guess its region: Florida houses were different from California houses, from Midwest houses, from desert houses, from mountain houses. Not any more. Buyers like what they like and now have the tool to find it -- the Internet. The number of websites devoted to house plans grows weekly. From this ever-expanding group is a sub-set that caters specifically to luxury buyers. These are glitzy sites with lots of lifestyle images of care-free living around the pool and patio.

I didn’t begin to understand the impact of these Internet destinations on new home shoppers until planning began for this issue of Luxury Home Builder. Highlighted in The Tour are projects that blend the best of indoor and outdoor living. Choosing these few was difficult because the options were numerous and came from every corner of the country -- and most states in between as well. No longer is outdoor living only a priority where the weather is warm year-round.

I doubt any of you are surprised at the growing popularity of outdoor spaces and the blurring of the separation of inside and outside. As many as a half dozen years ago, forward-thinking builders and architects predicted this trend would only expand and accelerate. They were certainly accurate -- and completely creative -- in making this prediction a reality.

However, what did surprise me about The Tour homes was the architectural borrowing evident in luxury home building today. Elements made popular by Florida architects and builders appear in Michigan homes. The gables of old-line East Coast architecture distinguish a Florida home. The list goes on and on. No longer can anyone look at a home and safely say where it is housed.

There is something so right in this approach to home design and construction. As people, we keep close to what is familiar, what is comforting. It is true of our everyday possessions -- art, books, music, furniture. As builders, architects and designers you create that single possession people treasure most -- their home -- and it is totally appropriate that they -- and you -- include those design elements that evoke a sense of security.