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Design For LifeTM
The Mantle® Building System© has such strength that just about any size internal floor can be hung from a Mantle Ringbeam. Web-flanged floor I-beams allow services to run in any direction within the floor. Solutions for just about any design exists, just ask.
Imagine living on a street where all the children play in the front gardens so all the various mothers/fathers/parents can keep an eye on them. Normally the kitchen would be placed in the front of the home, so a vary eye can be kept on the kids throughout the day. Then things change, for whatever reason, and the focus (on the kids or just away from the street) changes, and it is desired that the kitchen be placed at the rear of the home.
In a Design For Life home, this can quickly and easily be done without major expense compared to conventional construction. The same thought process with uncountable variables goes through every aspect of every age of a woman or a man, a couple, or a family.
Opening up space, or creating another room as required, becomes a reality dependent upon the resident's requirements and available space between party-walls or exterior walls.
Leading developers are now putting space into executive homes for prospective future stairlifts or actually designing the lift into the home, but this option is no longer the domain of just the wealthy. Everybody gets old, and may need this assistance to be able to remain at home longer. But, it's not just for the old and infirm... anymore, as these solutions are becoming more cost-effective every day, and many times the community will assist in its cost.
A footprint as small as 750mm x 1000mm can be designed in around the location where the staircase goes, and as and when required a lift conventionally built to EN81 standardscan be installed with the staircase going around it, for example. Until it is required, it can be a hall's open space, an upstairs cupboard, anything you'd like, really. Pre-planning for the lift's exit space as required by a wheelchair, for example, is part of the Design For Life philosophy.
This falls into a responsible design category, and we are more than happy to advise on solutions in this regard as well. The key is to design a lift into the intermediate floor cassettes, so it can be converted for use at any time without affecting the stability of the floor.
Where space is so limited that even a small footprint for a minimalist lift is not available, stairs should be wide enough to allow for a potential stairlift, possible with just widening the stairs by another 350mm.
By designing in an actual floor for the attic, Room-in-the-Roof options become available as planning restrictions are fluctual, depending upon the community's requirements of the moment.
Downstairs toilets as well as bathrooms at higher levels, ease of access for entry, handicapped access doors, in other words, plan for mobility problems. Many times life can throw us a surprise, and the idea is to plan accordingly, such as double-hinged windows for ease of access to the exterior portion of the windows without strain.
Many times planning restrictions are eased when Design For Life options within the home is addressed to the decision makers.
There are many cost effective partition solutions available; thought must be given to sound attenuation, the running of services such as ventilation, the benefit to the family as a whole, and so forth...
There's more, so much more, such as designing in compliance to fire codes, for example, but mostly it is common sense expressed in a design mode. Benefits include:
Not to mention the Designer's satisfaction with the job, and the beneficiary's ultimate enjoyment of their space.
Remember the three A's: Alteration, Adaption, and Addition. Developers are not expected to provide all solutions as they are normally working within set budget parameters, but using a bit of flexibility and designing to allow for the three A's will win them more friends throughout the industry (which never hurts!) and increase the marketability of properties they are trying to sell, especially for social housing. The same applies to the self-build client.
In regards to urban planning designs, we leave that to superior expertise and hopefully our Link's page located under the More tab above, and the Link's page's addendum, can lead you in the right direction. | 