Access Alaska celebrates universal design at the new remodeled facility: all Alaskans benefit from all-inclusive access.

• Author: Seely, Nichelle
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Building Alaska

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I'm standing in the sundrenched lobby of Access Alaska, talking to Simon Marelas Jr. about what this agency has done for him. I can faintly smell the fresh paint, and the light is gleaming softly from the new polished concrete floor and wood panels.

"Everything. They do everything. Help me get a place to live, help me get a fresh start," Marelas says.

His voice is slightly slurred because Marelas is partially deaf, and although his hearing aids are helpful, he still has difficulty distinguishing the conversation if there's a lot of background noise--which in this case there is. Access Alaska is preparing for an open house, welcoming the public and local media to examine the beautiful new premises.

Maximizing Universal Design

The organization's tagline is "Opening Doors to Independence;" its goal is to provide independent living services to seniors and anyone who experiences a disability. The overall mission is nothing less than to encourage and promote the complete integration of disabled individuals within society and the greater community of their choice, and they walk their talk. Over 51 percent of the staff are disabled in some fashion: hearing or vision impairment, mobility impairment (Jim Beck, the executive director, has a disability, and another staff member is in a wheelchair), or traumatic brain injury. When it came time to design a new facility, this forward-thinking organization wanted to do more than incorporate the accessibility minimums required by the building code. Access Alaska wanted to go all the way and utilize what is known as Universal Design to its full and logical extent.

Everyone is familiar with the sight of wheelchair ramps on public buildings. It's generally off to the side, an afterthought tacked on to meet the code requirement. The underlying philosophy of Universal Design is that good design should be seamlessly accessible to everyone, everywhere, in the same place at the same time; all-inclusive and all-purpose but without an institutional feel.

The new location has been in the works for a while. Access Alaska had been leasing, but the board decided that it was more sustainable in the end to design a facility--that way, money invested in the property would be an actual asset for the organization, which would have site control and be able to drive the finished product to meet any unique needs. It took time to find a suitable building in an appropriate location that the nonprofit...