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Design Guide: The Source for interior design products, services and fine home furnishings.
SPEAKERS: Cynthia Leibrock | Michael Thomas | Lori Weitzner | Karla Nielson | Serena Cole
Cynthia Leibrock, MA, ASID, Hon. IIDA
Universal Design Expert and Author
Cynthia Leibrock is an award winning author, an international lecturer, and a designer with over thirty years of experience. Her mission is to improve health, longevity and life quality through universal design.
She is the principal / founder of Easy Access To Health, LLC. The firm offers consulting services in patient centered design, planning for independent living, product analysis, and judiciary witness services. Prominent projects include The Betty Ford Center, the UCLA Medical Center, automotive interior design for Toyota, and a universal design exhibit for the Smithsonian (with Julia Child). In conjunction with Eva Maddox, she completed a showroom for the Kohler Company in which over a million consumers have learned about universal design, and a "living laboratory" in Fort Collins researching the environmental needs of older people.
She offers keynote presentations and workshops internationally, including multiple lectures for many of the Fortune 500 companies. She has served as a lobbyist for people with mental disabilities, as a judiciary witness in code compliance and accessibility cost estimation, and as a research associate on the dean's staff at Colorado State University. For the last twenty years she has taught courses in the architecture department at The Harvard University Graduate School of Design and has conducted healthcare design research in Scandinavia, Northern Europe and Japan.
Recent projects include the universal design of The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and The Laguna Honda Replacement Project. With a $400 million budget and a six-year completion schedule, the campus will offer rehabilitation and skilled care to over 1200 patients. She is also completing the universal and green design of her home as a demonstration project for health and longevity. It was recently featured on the cover of The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune (internet editions) and has been published in over fifty other newspapers, magazines, and web sites.
Numerous publications have resulted from her sponsored research including her books Design Details for Health, Beautiful Barrier Free: A Visual Guide to Accessibility, and Beautiful Universal Design, co-authored with James Evan Terry. Because of this work, she has twice been awarded the Polsky Prize for literature.
Designing for the Future: Universal Design
Each summer at The Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cynthia Leibrock offers a three-day symposium on universal design. Bringing together experts from many countries and design disciplines, the symposium focuses on the future design needs of the boomers around the world. "Designing for the Future" summarizes the Harvard presentation, addressing changing needs in the workplace, in health care facilities, and in housing.
Indeed, design needs are rapidly changing. Entry level positions are being filled by older people who require increased lighting levels, lower ambient noise levels, ergonomically designed products and safety features accommodating a reduced reaction time. In the next twenty years, the workplace will discover that the boomers do not believe in retirement, and they will not be forced out of the workplace by age or physical ability. The boomers will discover that it's not O.K. to live in a health care facility. The home healthcare and assisted living movements are already offering another choice: aging in place. Some universally designed apartment complexes already guarantee that the residents will never leave their apartments, they will never be forced to move into assisted living and skilled nursing.
This course addresses a lifetime of needs, the future of each class member as well as the future of interior design and architecture.
Designing for Health and Longevity
Imagine designing a home as a place for regeneration, a sanctuary for healing the wounds of the outside world. It is clean, not cluttered and unmanageable. It prevents disease and injury and restores you when the inevitable occurs. It regenerates you on a daily basis, supporting good sleep, encouraging exercise, making it fun to do healthy cooking.
That’s a lot to ask of a house, but it can be done. For the last six years, Cynthia Leibrock and her husband have been living with contractors to demonstrate regenerative design. They have integrated over 200 “Design Details for Health”, the title of Cynthia’s last book. About half of these ideas cost less than $50, but some are expensive. Among other aspects, Designing for Heath & Longevity visually showcases the steam shower, bathtub inside a bathtub, magnetic induction wok, steam oven to seal in nutrients, and dual refrigeration to keep veggies fresh for weeks. You won’t notice the grab bars, the gurney accessible bathroom, the ceiling track lift, or the accessible route through the house. They’re there, but invisible . . . and Cynthia and her husband suddenly needed all of it.
Upon finishing the remodeling, Cynthia’s husband tore his Achilles tendon, and Cynthia had unexpected hip surgery. He was on a scooter and she was using a walker. The hospital was recommending a “rehab. facility”. In other words, they were heading for THE HOME. Instead, they headed for THIER home, a safe and comfortable place with a seat in the steam shower, recessed wool area rugs, and beautiful wood floors, which are slip-resistant both wet and dry. After surgery, they transferred from their car, wheeled into the accessible entry, pushed a button on the automatic door, and entered a space filled with healing natural light, soothing music, and so much more. Learn to design a home for regeneration, a home for life.
