Homes

See How a House Can Be Designed to Change as You Do

Designer Gaile Guevara hosts an open house on a home that's still in construction to help people understand how to build for aging in place.

By Anicka Quin /

It’s become more than a buzz word: multi-generational housing is a growing need for homeowners who face both skyrocketing housing costs (the average detached house is now over $1.8 million in Vancouver) and aging parents in need of care. 

And it’s a subject that Gaile Guevara€”winner of our Robert Ledingham Award in this year’s Designers of the Year awards€”is particularly passionate about. “It’s an ongoing cost for a lot of our clients now€”clients who are concerned with both aging in place, and taking care of loved ones,” she says. “So many new home builds don’t think of that.”

So this weekend, she’s opening the doors to a home that’s still in the construction phase to explain to visitors what can be done early in the design process. “There are things we’re doing that wouldn’t be visible once it’s completed,” she explains.

The home, designed by Leckie Studio Architecture and Design and Gaile Guevara Studio, along with build team Powers Construction, is a 5-bedroom design along with a 1-bedroom laneway home. It’s designed to be relatively inexpensively renovated in the future, depending on the family’s needs. Older parents can be moved into an above-ground garden suite, and as their mobility and accessibility changes, the home adjusts with them. “A temporary wall is there when the homeowners first move in,” she explains, “and then once mobility issues become a challenge for their parents, they would simply open the wall with minimals costs, and the parents would be a part of everyday living.” In fact, the whole home is designed to modified relatively simply into a 3-bedroom suite plus a two-bedroom suite, a 4-bedroom suite along with a 1-bedroom, or a 5-bedroom family home.

The open house, done in conjunction with the Modern Architecture and Design Society, takes place this Saturday, October 5, starting at 2pm. The tour is free, but you’ll need to register via the link below. And while the home and tour will take place indoors, wear footwear appropriate for site under construction€”the ground around it may be muddy.

The 100-Year House – A Modern Blueprint for Multi-Generational Housing

Saturday, October 5
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
2649 West 14th Avenue
Free tickets at Eventbrite

Anicka Quin

Anicka Quin

Anicka Quin is the editor-in-chief of Western Living magazine and the VP of Content for Canada Wide Media. If you've got a home design you'd like to share with Western Living, drop her a line at [email protected]