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Joel Solkoff

High-tech housing for the poor, disabled and elderly

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design

Navigating

August 8, 2012 by joel Leave a Comment

This site has two central locations:

I. THEME: No shelter from the storm

II. DIGRESSIONS (not related directly to the theme; my daughters Joanna and Amelia [ “You regard your family as a diversion?), stories, career, and whimsy.

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Navigating NO SHELTER FROM THE STORM

Where do I want to go?

To a neighborhood which must be developed: A global model of independent living for elderly and disabled individuals consisting of:

a) An experimental residence for an individual or a family. For example, Blueroof’s Experimental Cottage in McKeesport, PA–a one story residence on inexpensive land in a burned out section of a Rust Belt town where a community could be developed.

b) Low-cost factory housing (mobile home) residences where sensors and other off-the-shelf technology are embedded in the walls.

c) Technology includes: +Security system. +Motion detectors to monitor falls, especially high risk areas such as the shower.+Computer voice simulation combined with wireless communications so the walls of the building call family or emergency services for help.

d) Research facility at a major university, e.g. Penn State’s Immersive Construction (ICon) lab where a virtual reality (animated 3-D) model of the real experimental residence helps prospective residents, the architectural, engineering, and construction community, caregivers, et al. change design before additional construction takes place.

e) An inter-generational accessible community.

Random Thoughts: January 30, 2013

April 28, 2012 by joel Leave a Comment

Time for more random updates and personal revelations out of date to everyone but me January 30, 2013: Someone stole Goya’s head. (The fact that his happened in the 19th Century is irrelevant.) “On a November morning of 1888 in the cemetery of the Grande Chartreuse, Bordeaux, the Spanish counsel resident in that opulent city […]

The answer to A.J. Liebling’s remark: “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”

March 27, 2012 by joel Leave a Comment

Some books are to be tasted: WorkPress overview by Jessica and Matt Beck, March 26, 2012 By Joel Solkoff (State College, PA United States) http://www.amazon.com/review/R334DOKHWPN31W One of my father’s favorite quotations was “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to […]

Sonali Kumar, virtual reality modeller and designer

January 23, 2012 by joel Leave a Comment

Sonali Kumar created this 3-D model of the Blueroof Cottage using AutoDesk’s Revit virtual reality imaging tool a Unity gaming engine. See Unity’s 3-D website: http://unity3d.com/create-games/?gclid=CPnkpYKZnK0CFVCR7QodWnKPnw. As the authoritative Wikipedia notes: ” A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to […]

Virtual reality cuts costs and increases satisfaction

February 2, 2012 by joel Leave a Comment

Put on your 3-D glasses The following appeared in HME News, the publication for the home medical industry, on July 26, 2011. This year and last, I asked the residents of Addison Court, the low-income apartment for disabled and elderly in State College where I live, to attend a demonstration at the Immersive Construction Lab, described […]

Floor plan Blueroof Experimental Cottage

February 18, 2011 by joel Leave a Comment

High-tech elderly and disability housing in the real world; namely McKeesport, Pennsylvania: McKeesport is the home of Blue Roof Technologies. http://www.bluerooftechnologies.com/ Yes, it is wheelchair accessible. This is a floor plan of the inside. I have driven my scooter through all of it, so I know it exists. I also know that right now there […]

Llike an old rock star….

February 14, 2011 by joel Leave a Comment

Like an old rock star who does not know when to quit:  This disabilities journalist continues to blog through the night to describe how 3-and 4-D technology will help elderly and disabled individuals lead better and more productive lives as a result of novel engineering techniques that make your head feel as if it will […]

Won’t ride ‘em cowboy: This is my final column

February 5, 2011 by joel Leave a Comment

Note: The following is the text of my February, 2011 column at Voices where I announce the end of my From Where I Sit column. The hard copy text, complete with a photograph of me, is available at newsstands in Centre County. I am reproducing it here for two reasons. First a reader insisted that […]

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Current

Disability bathroom design

September 3, 2020 By joel

Covid 19 has accelerated the need for a new utilitarian architecture: Architecture for the vulnerable ( like me)

August 19, 2020 By joel

Covid-19 Architects: “We Who Are About to Die Salute You”

August 6, 2020 By joel

Covid 19 impasse: Why architects need to know how a member of the US Congress must be expelled by the end of the month and how that relates to building emergency housing at a time when its absence is deadly and dangerous

July 23, 2020 By joel

John Wayne don't run away

Rain: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

July 5, 2020 By joel

Theo van Gogh’s The Interview

June 27, 2020 By joel

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Links

Blogroll
  • 1. PHOENIX REHAB1. PHOENIX REHAB With the help of the gifted Alicia Spence, I begin to walk.

  • 2. SMART SPACES FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING2. SMART SPACES FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING "The demographics of baby boomer aging over the next decade foreshadow great economic, political and cultural changes that could overwhelm many developed countries," said Richard Behr, founding director of the Center.

  • 3. IMMERSIVE CONSTRUCTION (ICon) LAB3. IMMERSIVE CONSTRUCTION (ICon) LAB My home in virtual reality, the ICon lab shows 3D and 4D (the fourth dimension is Time) models on 3 eight-foot hight screens; when the lights go off, put on the 3-D glasses.

  • 4. AMIGO MOBILITY4. AMIGO MOBILITY CEO Al Thieme created the first Power Operated Vehicle (POV) scooter. Most manufacturers separate their battery chargers from the scooter. You can plug an Amigo right into an electric socket .

  • 5. T & B MEDICAL5. T & B MEDICAL "Travis and Barb Barr, the 'T' and 'B' behind T & B Medical, Inc. have one goal in mind...to attend to every client's individual" mobility and durable equipment needs. I am a continual customer and recommend T&B highly--HIGHLY.

  • 6. INVACARE6. INVACARE Invacare is the world's leading manufacturer of wheelchairs, bariatric equipment, disability scooters, respiratory products and other homecare products.

  • ACCESSIBILITY FROM APPLEACCESSIBILITY FROM APPLE For the disability community, computer technology creates the ability to engage in computer design of aging-in-place housing.

  • CAREGIVER VILLAGECAREGIVER VILLAGE Using a virtual reality world, Caregiver Village improve the lives of family caregivers. Second Life, eat your heart out.

  • EMAIL MEEMAIL ME I once had a boss who loved focus groups. One afternoon at a shopping mall, readers of my newsletter told me EXACTLY what they thought, not knowing I was behind the one-way mirror. Please do the same.

  • HME NEWSHME NEWS HME News is the monthly business newspaper for 17,000 home medical equipment providers.

  • McKEESPORTMcKEESPORT "The decrease in the population since the 1940s is attributable to the general economic malaise that descended upon the region when the steelmaking industry moved elsewhere. The major employer WAS the National Tube Works, a manufacturer of steel pipes.

  • MONONGAHELA RIVERMONONGAHELA RIVER George Washington crossed the Monongahela into McKeesport to bring rum to the his friend, Queen Alliquippa, a Seneca Indian ruler. This was during the French and Indian Wars, Remember them?

  • NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

  • PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF REHABILITATION FACILITIES (PARF)PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF REHABILITATION FACILITIES (PARF) PARF represents the Commonwealth's premier facilities serving individuals with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. Traditionally, the highlight of the disability community is the annual conference at the Nittany Lion Inn at the Penn State campus

  • YOUGHIOGHENY RIVERYOUGHIOGHENY RIVER McKeesport is where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers meet. Fresh fish like the Walleye are back at the Youghiogheny, now that factories that created jobs are no longer polluting the river.

Previous Posts

Tags

Addison Court Amelia Altalena Solkoff Amelia Solkoff Amigo Mobility Architectural Engineering assistive technology blind Blueroof Technologies cancer Central Pennsylvania Centre County design featured-grid Helen Keller HME News Isadore Solkoff Joanna Joanna Solkoff Joel Solkoff John Bertoty John Messner kidney cancer McKeesport Medicaid Medicare Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Miriam Pell Schmerler Miss Sullivan New York City North Carolina PA Penn State Pennsylvania power chairs President Obama Robert Walters Sarah Schmerler scooter Sonali Kumar Spain State College United States University Park Virtual reality Wikipedia

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Recent

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  • We who are about to die…or architecture

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