The Savaria® Vuelift® - Design Outside the Box
It’s time to rethink the home elevator. We spend an enormous amount of effort to create our dream home design. We include all the conveniences and on-trend features: high-end appliances, walk-in closets, in-floor heating, stone counters and home theaters.
Traditional home elevators require construction of a hoistway to reach each level of the home, requiring careful planning and often limiting floorplan flexibility. But the Savaria® Vuelift® panoramic residential elevator changes the game. Featuring an integrated glass or acrylic hoistway with matching cab and landing doors, this all-in-one design means placement is incredibly flexible—in the middle of an open-concept space, through the floor, attached to a mezzanine or centered in a spiral staircase. No shaftway construction required.
The Vuelift combines stunning aesthetics with the convenience of skipping the stairs, whether in a country manor, upscale urban townhome or penthouse condo. Available in UV-resistant glass or acrylic to allow natural light to shine through, the incredible clarity means the 360-degree view from inside the lift is as impactful as the exterior design. Customizable, powder-coated frame colors let you add a splash of color or blend in with other interior design elements.
Show Stopper
On a quiet cul-de-sac in Madeira Beach, Florida, the neighbors sometimes stop to watch the Savaria Vuelift Octagonal panoramic glass home elevator on its travels.
“You wouldn’t believe how many cars stop to check out the elevator,” says homeowner Mark Salebra. “We get a lot of questions about our ‘cool’ Vuelift.”
Located in the center of a winding staircase inside the Salebra family’s coastal contemporary custom home on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay, and visible to passersby thanks to a glass wall on the home’s central exterior that runs from top to bottom, the Vuelift literally turns heads and stops traffic.
But the show-stopping residential lift wasn’t part of the original plan, which called for a traditional home elevator with a glass cab inside a glass hoistway. The problem? A traditional elevator would require a support wall that would destroy the view—both from inside the cab, as well as the exterior aesthetics.
“We have great views of the water at both the front and the back of the house,” says Salebra. “We didn’t want to spoil the view with an elevator that was glass on three sides with a solid wall on the fourth.”
Salebra bought the Madeira Beach property several years ago as a second home for his family of avid boaters. When the opportunity arose for them to live there full time and enjoy its prime location, sheltered boat slip and quiet, friendly community, the decision was made to tear down the original home and rebuild to provide more living space and take advantage of the unique elements of the lot.
The design of the new home centered on opening up the downstairs to create an engaging, welcoming environment with a breezeway between the glass wall at the front of the house and the prime family living space at the back, with walk out to the pool and beachfront. Closing off one side of the glass elevator with a load-bearing wall would, quite simply, disrupt the entire flow of the ground floor.
Project builder/developer KMG Property Mgmt & Construction, based in Clearwater, Florida, began to look for alternatives that would meet the client’s design goals. In discussion with Savaria’s local direct sales and installation office, Florida Lifts LLC, the Vuelift Octagonal in acrylic came away as the clear winner. And because it came as a complete package, it worked out to be more cost-effective than a traditional residential elevator model customized to be all glass.
How does the homeowner feel about his striking new Vuelift?
“Riding it is an experience, which is exactly what we wanted,” he says. “And the aesthetic is perfectly attuned to the rest of our home. For all its visual impact, it’s a very simple, elegant machine, with just a touch of an industrial feel. From the outside looking in, it’s particularly impressive at night when it’s lit up. It’s the icing on the design cake.”
The Vuelift family offers six base models, with available capacity up to 950lb. The chiseled features of the Octagonal lend strength and strong, clean lines to a home’s design, while the Round provides sweeping curves. The new Vuelift Mini’s 50-inch diameter footprint takes up seven- to 10-square-feet less room than a traditional residential elevator, making it particularly suited to retrofitting into existing homes.
Learn more at www.vuelift.com
or call 1.855.728.2742