Child’s Play

When Lewis and Tamara Kessler brought their twin daughters to the site of what would become the family’s new house, the girls had their doubts. “They were just petrified,” their father remembers. Then 5 years old, Isabel and Olivia thought they were going to live on a weedy lot in an abandoned garage. Their parents had better things planned, though. Isabel uses a wheelchair or a walker to get around, and the family’s old house, in the same suburban Maryland neighborhood, was full of barriers. “It just wasn’t accessible,” says Kessler, who along with his wife decided to build a house that would not play favorites between their daughters. The Kesslers hired architect Bob Gurney, whose open, Modernist style seemed a match for both the couple’s taste and their daughter’s needs.

Aided by an accessibility checklist from the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, Gurney gave the house a subtle concrete ramp from the sidewalk to the front porch. “Everything from the stone outside to the wood inside is seamless; it’s curbless,” Kessler says. And once inside, “You’re not negotiating a warren of rooms.” First-floor spaces consist of a large entry and a kitchen/dining/living great room. The deep, narrow lot precluded a single-floor dwelling, but a small elevator gives Isabel the run of all three floors, plus the basement. The kitchen allows full-family cooking, with a microwave located below counter height and a drawer front that pulls out into a laptop work surface. The girls’ shared bath includes a curbless shower and a roll-under sink counter with faucets placed at the sides of the sinks for an easy reach.

And while the house offers full accessibility, nothing about it looks adapted or added on. Some accessibility considerations, Gurney notes, actually led to improvements in the overall design of the house. “The 75-foot therapeutic pool, the big entry hall,” generous closets and baths—“those were all things that positively impacted the design.” Taken as a whole, they add up to a house that the whole family can enjoy—together. On move-in day, some two years after their weedy-lot scare, the twins gave their new home the ultimate stamp of approval. “They went squealing through the house,” Kessler remembers. “It was great seeing them both able to go to every part of the house.”

Project Credits:

Builder: M.T. Puskar Construction, Alexandria, Va.; Architect: Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, Architect, Alexandria; Living space: 3,400 square feet; Site: .25 acre; Construction cost: Withheld; Photographer: Maxwell MacKenzie.

Resources:

Bathroom plumbing fittings: Kohler; Bathroom plumbing fixtures: Grohe, Hansgrohe, and Vola; Bathroom/kitchen cabinets: Burger’s Custom Cabinetry; Brick/masonry products: Dillon; Dishwasher: Miele; Exterior siding: Galvalume; Fireplace: Heatilator; Garbage disposer: Franke; Hardware: FSB; HVAC equipment: Carrier; Kitchen plumbing fittings/fixtures: Franke; Lighting fixtures: Artemide, Lightolier, Stonco, and Task; Oven: Thermador; Refrigerator: Sub-Zero; Roofing: Genflex; Structural lumber: Trus Joist; Windows: Weathershield.

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