PLACE

OHANA. Designed for Everyone.

Home and neighborhood can have a profound impact on health and wellbeing, especially when it is designed with all of us in mind. For individuals and for families, for people of all ages, incomes, backgrounds and abilities to flourish in private homes and shared spaces, indoors and out.

OUR COMMITMENT

Purposeful Neighborhood Design

Purposeful, inclusive design requires a commitment — from the overall work of site planning to the smallest detail — to create every opportunity for deep and meaningful connections to people and to place. OHANA will be built in a series of four “pocket” or “micro” neighborhoods, each embracing a supportive living home where up to three individuals requiring care will reside. These micro-hoods will surround the heart of the community, the “common house,” a large second home designed for all the residents, a welcoming place for meetings, social gatherings, meals and hospitality.

OHANA HOMES. Where our way of life begins.

OHANA homes will be variously designed to support healthy, accessible living for adults with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as for people of all abilities, ages, and lifestyles. This means right-sized homes for families, individuals, and housemates; single-level homes for zero barriers to independent living; and accessible entries and universal design in every home to encourage hospitality throughout the neighborhood. OHANA homes will be places of welcome to our neighbors and to all those visiting OHANA village.

The Common House

A large common or community house sits at the heart of OHANA, a central gathering place for neighbors to connect in both formal and informal ways. Equipped with a large kitchen and meeting space, activity rooms and guest facilities, the common house will be a hub of intentional neighboring in OHANA Village.

The Common House

Simply designed…

for comfort, connection and caring.

Good for the senses…

A typical neighborhood can include visual, auditory, tactile, and even olfactory elements that promote stressful responses — especially when we are sensitive or when our environment is confusing or disorienting to us. We can feel overstimulated, crowded, isolated, lost or unsafe simply in response to our physical surroundings. OHANA aims to transform the experience of living in home and neighborhood for every resident by exploring how humans respond most successfully to our environments.

We are gratefully directed by the many individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities who share their experiences as they navigate the barriers and complexities of our world.  With comfort and connection in mind, Ohana Village will be designed with simplicity of architecture and healing landscapes to calm and please the senses. In the privacy of our houses or in the joy of gathering with our neighbors, we will know that we are home.

Designed for Whole Health Living

We spend most of our time in our homes and neighborhoods, but we don’t often think about how they can impact our wellbeing. The places where we live can affect every area of our lives — transforming our social, emotional, environmental, financial and even spiritual health. OHANA is committed to the intentional design of neighborhood to address every one of these dimensions of personal and social health.

BUILDING OHANA is working diligently right now to secure property in the greater Spokane area. We are committed to a location that is walkable to schools and accessible to transit and urban amenities to support a thriving lifestyle and connection between OHANA residents and the broader community. Currently we’re working with landowners in the hope of securing OHANA land this year.

Buildable land is scarce and expensive. Just this year, thanks to the generosity of donors who believe in our mission, our project donations have grown to

$1,100,000