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Thanks to a temporary ramp, Greta can now get into her new room on the first floor!Whilst the build is racing on everyday (regardless of all the rain) I am spending most of my time sourcing and applying to charities for funding to help us build the house. Unfortunately, over a year ago our local council stopped funding extensions to make houses accessible, and are now only able to support a wet room and a ramp up to the front door. Quite how families are expected to carry on using their family homes, when they need to carry their ever heavier children upstairs daily, I’m not sure. As a family with a child with additional support needs, it can get very wearing to constantly focus on the difficulties of life: we like to celebrate and enjoy all the things, large and small, that we find Greta and our whole family able to do. So I don’t want to dwell on the lack of support that the Council is able to provide. But it does mean that I am having to be creative in finding ways of funding this build (any suggestions welcome!). It is a really interesting process, and I am finding out about so many wonderful charities and foundations which have been set up, often due to people’s experiences, who provide so much help support and understanding for so many people. Unfortunately, a lot of charities don’t help with building adaptations: again I’m not sure why not, people’s homes are so important to them, and they need to work well in supporting and enabling them. It may seem as if we are in a very lucky situation of being able to build our own house, which we are, and we really appreciate all the support (and kind wishes) which we get from everyone we encounter; for us this is not only the best possibility, but the only possibility. To find a house in Portobello (where Greta is known and loved) which we could afford, and which we could then adapt to make it barrier-free would be impossible. Building from scratch gives us the chance to provide a house which will carry on supporting us as a family, and helping Greta’s growing independence into the future, but it also gives us the joy of seeing Greta enjoying the spaces of our home inclusively.

Any suggestions of creative fund raising ideas, please comment below.

Saturday was Greta’s eighth birthday (baking) party, and as always we had invited more children than really fit in the house, so we were hoping and praying for sunshine so that we could release them all into the garden. It wasn’t looking good, with a particularly wet week leading up to the party, but then amazingly just as the first guests arrived, the sun came out too, and the garden was filled with excited children dressed as spidermen, devils in red wigs and princesses. Then later in the evening, the calm after the storm, I noticed that our front garden had become greener and darker, as the rain returned and it poured. Immediately I thought of our friends who were brave enough to be doing the moonwalk, and hoped that it would have rained itself out by midnight. I’ve since heard that nothing could have dampened the atmosphere of the ‘walked’ marathon through the night.

The next day we walked down to the site, to find that Bee’s wish had been granted, and there was now a swimming pool where the kitchen had been.

children’s fieldwork

Architecture for All is not just about physical access, but more crucially about inclusion in the whole design.

Designing spaces which are barrier-free and accessible to everyone, through engaging people in the design process. This should be prioritised because it improves everyone’s experience of the built environment; when people feel included both in the process and in the built result, their involvement ensures meaningful and joyful use.

Children’s different ways of moving through and using spaces shows us that buildings can be thought of differently, and barrier-free design (rather than being seen as an add on) can be at the core of our architecture. This will change the rhythm of use, and the spaces occupied. Imagine that most places you went to worked against you moving easily around them, and that every space had been designed with a mobile upright person in mind?

Squirrel Cottage has been designed by a whole family to offer a little girl a supportive environment, not only for her, but for her family and friends too. Realising that an inclusive, barrier-free house is not just about being able to get from one floor to the other, and considering movement around a house in a whole new way offers a richness of experience of spaces that is beneficial to everyone.

Inclusive             Supportive                  Space

Children and their Use of Space

Children’s Participation

Community Involvement