With more and more baby boomers reaching the age of 65, architect Susanne Stadler believes the time is right to rethink and redefine housing. “Homes for life” share key elements: adaptability, transparency and flexibility. Increasingly, kitchens can double as health centers to promote health and wellness, while bathrooms are more like living rooms than “dark caves with no natural light." Stadler cited Snaidero’s Skylab accessible kitchen as a model for Universal Design.
Designing environments that improve people’s lives was at the forefront of the Socially Sustainable Design track at this year’s Architecture Boston Expo, one of the largest building industry events in the country. Sponsored by the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD), the workshops featured such speakers as architect John McAslan, with Metropolis editor and publisher Susan Szenasy; Susan Ruptash of Quadrangle Architects and Susanne Stadler of Stadler Architecture as well as Zuzana Cersesnova, co-founder of the Centre of Design for All at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia. Topics also included mandated vs. voluntary accessibility codes and standards and inclusive design in higher education.
