Bethesda, Md.-based Winchester Homes' new show home at the Clarksburg Village community in Montgomery County, Md., started out as a statement against accessible design mandates. By showcasing what could be done on a voluntary basis to increase accessibility and enhance livability in production homes, Winchester executives hoped to demonstrate to local jurisdictions that  blanket regulation, which in some cases would add significant costs to the homes, was over kill. (Click here or on the picture to the right to hear Winchester Homes president Alan Shapiro talk about why now was a good time to build a show home.)

The reason for the extra costs is simple: Every piece of dirt is different. Even lots adjacent to each other can have a different grade or soil composition, making doing some of the structural work needed for accessible design, namely a zero-step entrance, not only more difficult but also more expensive. In fact, in some cases, a zero-step entrance would be cost prohibitive.

However, under a voluntary program, builders like Winchester could earmark lots that naturally lend themselves to no-step entries, allowing buyers who want or need more accessibility to buy homes at production rather than custom home prices.  

In this case, the home's universal design features synch up with Montgomery County's Design for Life Montgomery program. The voluntary program, which officially launched in March 2007, was the product of a push by local groups to increase the number of houses in the county that are accessible to people with disabilities. To date, the county's permitting services has issued 12 permits for this type of project, eight of which are for new construction.

Now, the house... Click here or on the picture of the show home above for a photo tour of the home. (Once the slideshow opens, be sure to hold the cursor over the picture for commentary!) In the meantime, here is my Top 5 features list.

1. The streetscape. The Winchester team did a fantastic job making the home accessible without cluttering the streetscape with ramps that can endanger a home's architectural integrity and curb appeal. A wide stone sidewalk leads from the ever so gently sloping driveway to a covered entry area at the front door, where there is a zero-step entry into the home. (There's another one into the garage.)
   
   This no-step entry, meaning there's absolutely no lip between a home's exterior and interior, is one of the biggest hurdles in universal design. However, it's totally worth it. Anyone in a wheelchair or walker could easily enter or leave the home without having to negotiate any sort of raised edge. And not to mention, it's great for people with kids in strollers or people who bike a lot. (For a more in-depth look at the differences in cost structure between a no-step entrance and traditional step-up entrance, click here or on the slide to the right for a short audio presentation.)
   
   
2.  The kitchen.  In a word: fabulous. Because it must accommodate a wheelchair, the kitchen has this wonderfully vacuous feel to it. There's just a ton of space, making it easy to move around in it whether you're wheelchair bound or otherwise while creating a lot of storage space. I imagine that anyone who has either/or a dog or crumb crunchers would appreciate the extra room.
   
   At heart of the kitchen is this gigantic island. At one end of the island, the counter height is lower than standard and open underneath to accommodate someone in a wheelchair. However, I thought it created a great secondary workstation for anyone. I could imagine having a wee-one parked right there doing his/her homework while mom or dad whipped up a scrumptious meal.
   
   Now, I wasn't crazy about the two-burner cook top installed on this lower portion of the island. It definitely makes a lot of sense for someone in a wheel chair, but I'm not sure anyone with small children would think that was super safe. But that hesitation aside, the kitchen really was the home's centerpiece.
   
   
3. The kitchen cabinets. There was so much to love about these cabinets. First, the base cabinets came with pull-out drawers. This is a super convenient feature for anyone; it makes digging out the top of pot from the back of the cabinet so much less irritating, not to mention that things stay better organized.
   
   Second, all of the cabinets and easy-glide drawers came with automatic, quiet-close technology. Literally you just gently push the drawer or cabinet and the thing closes by itself-and without the typical banging. This is a big plus given that there's a first-floor bedroom suite right off the kitchen; anyone in that room hoping to get a few more hours of sleep won't be kept awake by the slamming of drawers and cabinets as the rest of the family forages in the kitchen.
   
   
4. Storage. The closets in both the downstairs and upstairs master suites were roomy and offered multi-level storage. However, I really liked the extra storage room that was tucked into a corner between the garage and the kitchen. Not only is this a great place to ditch boots and coats or bulk food items, but it also would be a convenient place to store extra wheelchairs or walkers, oxygen canisters, or other medical supplies.
   
   
5. Utility access. For people with limited mobility, getting down to the basement to reset a blown circuit breaker or turn off the water can be more than a pain in the keister. To avoid this issue, Winchester put the electric box in the garage-which has a no-step entry from the home-and located the water shut off valve in the hallway leading to the garage.
   
   The other bonus when it comes to home maintenance is that the home's furnace, which unfortunately is located in the basement, comes outfitted with a fine particulate cartridge media filter, which only needs to be changed once a year, as opposed to traditional filters which have to be swapped out several times a year.
   

On that note, I should mention that for as much as this Winchester home is a showcase of universal design principles it's also a platform for displaying green technologies. In fact, this home has triple certification. It passes Design For Life Montgomery standards, but also is certified as both a silver level green home by the NAHB Research Center and an Energy Star home. (You can check out Winchester's self-produced video about the home, featuring two of the company's employees as hosts, here.)

The interesting thing about this home being both a UD and a green home is that while the features that fall into each category might seem as though they would be discrete, some actually work very nicely together. Two in particular come to mind.

1. The touch sensor kitchen faucet. For people with dexterity issues, pulling a handle or turning a knob is tough. The touch sensor allows them to get water on demand. And I stress on demand. All low flow technology aside, I imagine that having this type of instantaneous control over flow also would cut down on the amount of time faucets are left running while pots are moved or dishes are rinsed.
   
   
2. The home's remote control system. About the size of a digital photo frame, this thing is pretty much CENTCOM for the home. With a tap of the screen, a homeowner can check out who's at the front door, unlock the home, and even dim or turn off the lights, to name a few capabilities. Think for a second about how much energy you could save by being able to dim or shut off lights remotely. No more letting the porch light stay on all night because you're already in bed. How cool is that?

So, while this show home may not boast the latest and greatest when it comes to either UD or green technology--there are no elevators or solar panels--it does demonstrate how accessible--no pun intended--these design features really are. Any home buyer can incorporate some or all of these design elements into his or her Winchester home and the home will live better.