LIFEhouse™
Newport Cove’s national award-winning LIFEhouse™, located in the community’s Cottage neighborhood, is a special concept home designed to be both visually attractive and especially safe for those under six, over 60 and everywhere in between. The LIFEhouse™ emphasizes universally designed features that make everyday living a little easier and accommodate more people for a longer time. It is designed to be a home for ALL your life.
The house was built in collaboration with the internationally renowned Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDEA Center), affiliated with the College of Architecture, University at Buffalo, of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The IDEA Center experts (architects, engineers and medical personnel) took Newport Cove’s Moonriver house plan and “tweaked” it to make it universally designed. “Universally designed” does not mean that a house is fully ADA accessible; what it does mean is that it could easily be made so.
From the outside the LIFEhouse™ is a charming cottage. Tucked into the landscape and front porch design is an unobtrusive bricked ramp. The front door is 42 inches wide; there is no “step up” at this door. Also making the ranch home accessible is an interior elevator that stops on the first floor, garage and finished lower level.
The kitchen has a contemporary, trendy look, yet it meets universal design standards. The appliances – dishwasher, cooktop, oven, refrigerator, microwave and warming drawer – are all within reach whether a person is sitting or standing. The space is exceptionally well-lit with over-cabinet, under-cabinet, ceiling, pendant and natural lighting. Faucets, sinks and cabinets are ADA compliant.
Two of the three full baths are fully accessible, featuring double-bowl vanities at two different levels, showers without curbs and with seats, multilevel faucets and comfort-height toilets. The glamorous master bath has a double walk-in shower with both “sit down” and “stand up” areas, body sprays and spa shower features.
Special lighting, memory niches, easy-to-use handles on doors and cabinets, security features, green and low-maintenance materials all add to the home’s livability.
The house offers another 1,700 square feet of finished space in an English-style basement with ample windows.
The following corporations are sponsoring the Newport Cove LIFEhouse™: Kohler faucets and fixtures, KitchenAid appliances, Silestone quartz countertops, Pella windows, Sea Gull lighting fixtures, Leviton lighting switches, MidContinent cabinets, Carrier furnaces, Certainteed concrete fiber siding, M&S Tile and Stone, Home Technology Systems and PerfikDek decking and rails.
Most Newport Cove homes include numerous universal design features. The LIFEhouse™ shows what a fully universally designed home can offer, and gives buyers ideas for what they may want to incorporate into their personal residences.
Newport Cove’s furnished model homes are open noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays or by appointment. Get directions HERE.
