“I think you can still have good, workable production design while implementing these new standards,” says leading contractor.“I think you can still have good, workable production design while implementing these new standards,” says leading contractor.
JUNE 28, 2023
When the Living In Place Institute Idea Home opens to visitors next year in Louisville, Colo., there will be no steps or thresholds to obstruct those who enter, either from the front door or from the garage. Now LIPI is working to encourage homebuilders, including production builders, to make those same modifications.
There are relatively inexpensive ways that builders can work toward offering those innovations, says John A. Danielian, AIA, President of California-based Danielian Associates Architecture/Planning/Design. His firm, architects for the Living in Place Institute Idea Home, has a 55-year history with credits for many innovations seen in master-planned communities today.
“I think you can still have good, workable production design while implementing these new standards,” says Danielian. “We do everything from production homes to large multifamily projects, and we need to incorporate similar considerations all the time.” Just as builders did 30 years ago when the hurdle was better energy performance, builders might begin by offering zero steps on a single home in a new collection.
“There might be some additional costs in doing specific grading for a model with zero-steps,” Danielian says. “But you might be able to get a premium on those specialty home sites that will offset the costs.”