Cynthia Leibrock, expert on accessibility and aging, to speak at ISU Oct. 11
09/29/21
AMES, Iowa — Cynthia Leibrock, an award-winning author, designer and renowned consultant on accessibility and aging, will present a free public lecture on “Residential Design for Health and Longevity” at Iowa State University.
Hosted by the Department of Interior Design with support from the Institute for Design Research and Outreach, Leibrock’s presentation will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11, in 2245 Coover Hall. She will describe the extensive remodel of Green Mountain Ranch, the home she shares with her husband in Livermore, Colorado, which integrates more than 200 green and universal design elements that foster “visitability, adaptability and healthy aging-in-place.”
Leibrock imagined her home as a sanctuary that “prevents disease and injury and… regenerates you on a daily basis, supporting good sleep, encouraging exercise and making it fun to do healthy cooking.”
Among the home’s features are accessible routes to all doors, slip-resistant granite on all sidewalks, solar lighting on exterior stairs, greenhouses and elevated planters, hot water floor heating in several spaces, zoned heating on thermostats, low-glare flooring and counters, self-closing drawers, pull-out racks for reachable storage, side-hinged oven door for wheelchair users, elevated washer and dryer with front-mounted controls, clerestory windows and skylights, elevated bed and touch controls on cabinets and drawers in primary bedroom, handheld shower — and many, many more.
About the speaker
Leibrock is the principal and founder of Easy Access to Health, LLC, which offers consulting services in patient-centered design, planning for independent living, product analysis and judiciary witness services. She gives keynote presentations and workshops internationally, including for many 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 at Colorado State University.
For nearly 20 years, Leibrock 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.
She is the author of “Design Details for Health” and “Beautiful Barrier Free: A Visual Guide to Accessibility” and coauthor of “Beautiful Universal Design” with James Evan Terry. She has twice been awarded the American Society of Interior Designers’ Joel Polsky Prize for literature.
Contacts
Cynthia Leibrock, Easy Access to Health, 970-484-4182, cynthia@agingbeautifully.org
Julie Irish, Interior Design, 515-294-8978, jenirish@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, 515-294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu
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September 29, 2021 2:13 pm
Tags: Lecture
