Aging Gracefully for the Zoomy Boomer

 

Aging Gracefully for the Zoomy Boomer

By David Barrett

Last Spring I told you about Zoomerhouse, the “aging gracefully” home prototype in Boulder, Colorado that my wife Betzi and I were building. We are so proud to say our baby has been born. She’s a beauty.

More than beauty, she has a reason for being: to help some lucky inhabitants age gracefully. Her new owner might be a Zoomer – someone over 45 years old who plans on being culturally and socially engaged for quite a while – a baby boomer with zip as they are described.

Zoomerhouse was designed to anticipate the needs of aging minds and bodies without cutting back on style or sustainability. Here’s what we had in mind:

  1. Zoomers expect the home to be an activity center, where they can continue to be involved with consulting, hobbies, meditation, yoga, creativity, exercise, and entertaining.
  2. Zoomers need smaller, more compact homes, with essential living on one level, lots of counter space, convenient storage, easier access to bath and shower, and less lawn to mow. Domestic needs can be tended to effectively as kitchen, laundry, and closets are open for easy access and proximity for multi-tasking.
  3. The Zoomerhouse flexes. It adapts, and morphs to respond to changing needs and evolving interests. What starts as a personal wellness space in the second story loft can reconfigure to house a Boomerang family member or a foreign exchange student, can transform into a social and financial outlet via Airbnb.com, or later in the aging process can accommodate a live-in health care giver.Zoomerhouse
  4. Zoomerhouse has minimized physical obstacles to one’s freedom of movement. From garage, to inside-outside flows, Zoomerhouse provides a seamless surface. The primary living level has generous clearances from doorways to pathways. The open plan is organized around the idea of continuous flows, loops, and freedom of choice: living large without boundaries!
  5. Zoomers live life around an outdoor courtyard. This outside room is open to the winter sun and shaded by deciduous trees for summer comfort.
  6. Zoomerhouse supports “next stage years” as a return to right livelihood; where living, working, and playing are supported in one home environment. An in-home studio/office with abundant daylight allows for continued work, consulting, activities and hobbies to bring balance to the active mind and body.

To visit Zoomerhouse, contact Betzi Barrett at Four Star Realty

zoomerhouse-living-room

Zoomerhouse

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