“Aging in Practice”…the Geriatric Cottage…

Architects make designs so that their clients may age in place. 

In the Woods Edge; a Geriatric Cottage by Revelations Architects, both the clients (Architect Bill and his retired School teacher wife Ann Yudchitz) are aging in place. You might more accurately say that Bill Yudchitz of Revelations Architects is “aging in practice.” Both in their seventies, Bill and Ann did not want their declining physical abilities to prevent them from communing with Lake, Forest, children and grandchildren at their Bayfield family compound. Over a period of two and a half years of weekends and vacations Bill with the help of his company Revelations Builders completed this little cabin.

Revelations is a design build firm that has been crafting innovative and utilitarian jewels in the Stevens Point area and in this forest family compound just outside of Bayfield, WI for over 43 years. Bill and architect son Dan, first designed and with apprentice architect Andy Lippart built the Edge. It was built three times; once in the office parking lot, then at the MREA energy fair and finally-in its final resting place in Bayfield Wisconsin. In 2010 the Edge won an AIA design honor award, then won a national AIA small practitioners design award. It was published in “Wood Design and Building,” winter 2010 – 2011 number 53. Followed by the guest house, Nest which also won a Wisconsin AIA design merit award. Later published in Dwell magazine November 2015. Just finished, the Geriatric Cottage is also called the Woods Edge. As the family’s second generation assumes more responsibility and ownership of the compound, moving to easier digs made sense for the first-generation Bill and Ann. The spartan accommodation’s…not to mention the Edges skip stop ship’s ladder access to the sleeping lofts proved a physical challenge.

A ramp makes for “universal” access to the Geriatric Cottage. Sensitively cut into the forested setting, the cottage affords views of the multifaceted forest while maintaining privacy from the rest of the compound. For aging in place this construction used a litany of recycled building products to expand the definition of sustainability, recycling and just plain “thrifty.”

Over ¾ of the steel siding was left-over siding or cover sheets from previous projects accumulated over the years and laying in the Yard or warehouse of Revelations Design Builders in Stevens Point. The black and white scheme was dictated by colors left-over from these earlier jobs. 2/3 of the black standing seam roof was also a left-over. This also gave direction to use white aluminum clad windows, which would allow a bigger selection of supplemental sizes and quantities.

About 80% of the windows in the house were “miss-orders” culled from Sierra Pacific or H windows’ “Miss and Match” overstock boneyard. Approximately 60% of the aluminum railings on the deck were constructed from remnants of aluminum sections left-over from previous jobs.

The iron spot pavers were accumulated from a job completed over 20 years ago and found their way to this Cottage east sidewalk.

The three main patio doors in the living area were removed from a remodeling project several years back, stored and reused here.

The decks were covered with Trex boards from a previous job where a novice had incorrectly attached the material, which was then rejected by the owner, removed by Revelations and reused here with the challenge of matching existing holes with the new framing. Larger head stainless steel screws concealed the earlier efforts.

The framing wood for the project was purchased at Menard’s with rebates.

Stone and wood are a consistent palette for Revelations’ work. The stone veneer used here was another material left-over from other jobs and encloses the above grade mechanical crawlspace. Bill uses landscape stone for its economy and because it lays up almost the same as veneer stone but is more economical.

All the floors and wet walls are tiled. The tile was originally selected and bought for another client who after selecting it, then rejected it. The tile was porcelain, color neutral and was less than a dollar a SF so Bill kept it for this future use.

One of the most amazing parts of the project was the wood ceiling and the east wall. Revelations had designed a mission church in what had been an old furniture and appliance store. The Congregation had a 30-day cancellation clause on their lease which made it possible that they would have to leave the building within a month. For that reason, Revelations detailed a demountable wall system with Baltic birch plywood and LVL ribbons, similar to the way one would form concrete. For several reasons, the church moved to a new location. The Church then decided to store the plywood system as it was no longer usable in their new location. A year and half later the Congregation asked Revelations if they wanted to buy the plywood back, which Bill did without any preordained use. To apply this paneling Bill had to cut out the screw holes that were made when the walls were originally constructed. Plywood strips of 8-foot length were ripped out of the perforated sheets, to 4, 8, 12 and 16-, and 24-inches inches wide. Then after studying different ways to assemble the plywood strips including a little experimentation of a 1 inch to 1 inch study model, it was decided to cut 32-inch-long pieces that matched the rafter and stud spacing of the framing.  Widths were randomly applied with no pattern. This proved a very labor-intensive application but created a nice mosaic.

While the Edge is heated by a water based geothermal system, feeding a radiant heat slab on grade, the raised prefab nature of the Woods Edge/Geratric Cottage called for a different system approach. At the new Cottage a forced air geothermal heat pump was used. Energy is extracted from the constant temperature well water flowing thru the Heat Pump and discharged to the adjacent stream. Conditioned Air is supplied thru ductwork and grilles above the bathroom and closet.

Revelations also had a stockpile of new, used or mis-sized cabinets. They used an old sink base in the two large pantries. Revelations fabricated the floor and walls in Stevens Point in two days. Bill and Andy transported these prefab panels upon a flatbed from Stevens Point and the two men set the floor and all the walls in one day. The roof took two days to cut and assemble on site.