Living In Place Institute—an organization dedicated to making all homes accessible, healthy, and safe—recently broke ground on its new Idea Home in Louisville, Colorado.
The concept home took shape after the home of Louie Delaware, founder and president of the Institute, was among 1,084 residences destroyed in the Marshall wildfire in late 2021.
“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.
Located in The Enclave, a neighborhood southwest of Louisville’s Harper Lake, where numbers of homes are now beginning reconstruction following the fire, the new design will require no steps or thresholds to enter from either the street or garage. All other rooms and adjoining areas will be equally accessible, including 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.
After completion, the Institute will host a series of events and training workshops to promote living in place design and building methods. Visitors to the completed home will see modifications that work in favor of families facing a broad range of challenges, including younger families coping with children with autism and other developmental disabilities to people dealing with an accident or a cognitive disability.
“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 and marketing at Living In Place Institute. “This will be the way all homes should be built.”
The home will be designed by architecture firm Danielian Associates of Irvine, California, and built by Tim Coonce of Niwot-based Porchfront Homes. Delaware is also working with Maria Stapperfenne and Barbara Barton, National Kitchen & Bath Association-certified Master Kitchen and Bath Designers and Certified Living in Place Professionals; lighting designer Jaye Morrow of Denver-based Urban Lights; and interior designer Colleen Johnson.
Robert August of Northstar Synergies is directing the promotional and open house activities, and, following the series of events, the Delaware family will move back into the home.
