Social integration of architecture with elderly

Thesis statement:

The objective of this thesis is to improve the architectural qualities of the lives of elderly in order to increase the integration level of our senior citizens into society.

[WHY]

With medical advancements and a longer life expectancy, it is certain that for the future generations the population of older people will exceed the population of their kids and grand kids. Demographically, in 2015, the older population in China, 65-and-older population, represents 10.1 percents of the total population; by 2030, China will have nearly 238.8 million that is 17.2 percent of total population. Nowadays, the number of older people in China is about 136.9 million. As people getting older and gradually losing their ability of self-sufficient, it is crucial to consider and respect their desire of independent living both physically and psychologically at the same time to reach their demand of a sense of security and intimacy. However, many elderly houses or nursing houses in China are typically isolating the elderly, in which neither the seniors are willing to live, nor do their family and friends want to visit. Frankly, most of elderly are segregated from our society in both geographically and socially, even if they have become a large portion of our country. Therefore, this thesis would use a comprehensive design strategies and comparably central-located urban site to eliminate the isolation and feeling of being neglected from the elderly.

[WHAT]

My intention is to design an elderly community that they will get attached to and have their expected lives. And considering the living situations of elderly implies acknowledging their changing physical status, social environment and mental conditions, hence, this thesis project will be designed in the way of accommodating these changes to allow as much as level of adaptability. Then, the main guiding principles of the thesis are to design an adaptive elderly community with integration of society; and to built up a close relation with it surroundings, contexts, and to generate a dialogue with the city.

To get a closer understanding of senior residences’ needs, it is necessary to get down to categorize them into different types based on the level of self-sufficient in response to different types of housing. In general, the ability of self-sufficient will range from completely independent living, to daily caring, to PACE, respite care and till nursing care. Correspondingly, varied types and hierarchies of housing space and equipped facilities would be designed in relation to level of care. For example, there will be free-standing houses, apartments, shared rooms and so on.

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Along with the concerns on residences, there is a remaining issue that to integrate the community with the city and eliminate the problem of isolation. Other facilitated programs will be introduced into the community, such as public transport, fitness center, wellness center, library, hotels for family and visitors, shops and other public, commercial programs. Concisely, “adaptability, connectivity and social interaction” are keys to the design of the thesis.

[HOW]

The thesis project will contains three different sections. The first is investigation and understanding through researches and case studies to determine the specific requirements of the proposed residence in relation to site context. The second section is to test different initial design schemes based on information acquired from the first stage. Each of the scheme will be tested under the scenarios if it approaches the aim of supporting elderly’ desired living conditions through architectural aspect, community support and social interaction. And the third section will conclude with a comprehensive design on specific site based on previous studies and tests.

Initial researches will mainly collect data on statistics, reference of architecture concepts and design strategies with focus on information about independent living and health care of elderly, complex community and integrated social connection. Furthermore, these collected data will be chose and screened to translate to architecture diagrams as basis of the starting point of design. Then, architectural cases will be studied and analyzed to provide fundamental understanding about previous and current circumstances of architecture of elderly. Cases of both Asian and Western examples will taken as reference with different design strategies in terms of varied sites, residences and social conditions.

Combination of these preliminary studies will be taken as basis to design the new elderly community. Different characteristics of studied-cases will be tested through the first stage of design process that will stresses the design strategies to be approached to achieve the goals of integrated elderly community including aspects of site selection, basic massing form testing, programs determining, and so on. Furthermore, the there key words “adaptability, connectivity and social interaction” will be repeatedly evaluated to see if the design achieve the condition of integration during the proceeding design process in terms of space, form, programs and organizations, and so on.

Reference:

  1. Grundrissfibel Alterszentren: 44 Architekturwettbewerbe in Der Schweiz 2002-2014. Zürich: Edition Hochparterre, 2014.
  2. Senior Living Architecture. Hong Kong: Phoenix Pub., 2013.
  3. He, Wan, Daniel Goodkind, and Paul R. Kowal. An Aging World: 2015. Place of Publication Not Identified: United States Census Bureau, 2016.
  4. Rosenfeld, Jeffrey P., and Wid Chapman. Home Design in an Aging World. New York: Fairchild Books, 2008.
  5. Salmon, Geoffrey. Caring Environments for Frail Elderly People. Harlow, Essex: Longman Scientific & Technical, 1993.
  6. Schittich, Christian, and Peter Ebner. In Detail: Housing for People of All Ages: Flexible, Unrestricted, Senior Friendly. München: Ed. Detail – Inst. Für Internat. Architektur-Dokumentation, 2007.
  7. Sommer, Robert. Social Design: Creating Buildings with People in Mind. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983.

 

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