Too many “high‑performance” homes still miss the mark for clients who plan to age in place or live with changing abilities. They perform well on paper, but fall short on everyday usability and resale appeal.

That gap shows up as frustrated homeowners, costly callbacks, and designs that look dated the moment someone needs a walker, wider clearances, or better‑planned kitchens and baths.

Join the AIBD High‑Performance Homes Team for “A Practical Guide to Universal Home Design” (1.0 P3 CE), a working roundtable built around the Iowa Program for Assistive Technology’s 20‑page checklist that turns “accessibility” from a code obligation into a lifestyle and marketability asset.

High-Performance Homes Team – A Practical Guide to Universal Home Design (1.0 P3 CE)
Date: Monday, May 19, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm EDT
Duration: 1 hour
Where: Live online via AIBD.org/webinars​

It is easy to design to energy, envelope, and systems targets—and treat universal design as a bolt‑on afterthought.

When universal design is an “add‑on,” it can clash with your structural layouts, MEP runs, and detailing, forcing compromises that either weaken performance or degrade the user experience.

In this session, we will use the Practical Guide to Universal Home Design to explore how to integrate universal principles with high‑performance goals from day one, so durability, efficiency, and human comfort reinforce each other instead of competing.

Please review the 20‑page checklist in advance so you can bring real project questions to the table: Practical Guide to Universal Home Design (PDF).

Clients rarely ask for “universal design” by name, but they do want homes that feel intuitively usable, safe, and future‑proof—without looking institutional.

If we do not lead this conversation, value‑engineering, plan books, and outdated assumptions drive decisions that reduce the long‑term value and livability of our designs.

During this roundtable, we will dig into:

• Marketability and value‑add: How universal features can differentiate your work and support stronger fees.
• Integration with building systems: Aligning structure, HVAC, and controls with accessible layouts and circulation.
• Kitchen and bath ergonomics: Real‑world details that improve daily life for everyone, not just those with mobility issues.
• Technical constraints vs. design solutions: Where the checklist feels “impossible” and how peers are resolving those conflicts in the field.

This is not a slide deck; it is a working conversation about real friction points between high‑performance goals and universal design scenarios.

Seats are intentionally limited so everyone can participate, share screens, and workshop live projects.

Once those seats are filled, you will miss the chance to test your current details against the checklist, get peer feedback, and walk away with practical upgrades you can apply immediately.

Reserve your spot now and secure 1.0 P3 CE while advancing how you think about performance, comfort, and longevity in your residential work.

Register here: AIBD.org/webinars → “High‑Performance Homes Team – A Practical Guide to Universal Home Design (1.0 P3 CE)”

Come ready to share your screen, your challenges, and your insights. Together we can move universal home design from a checkbox to a core part of high‑performance practice.

See you online,
AIBD's High Performance Homes Team