More-and-more frequently today, local planners, developers, and builders are looking for ways to accommodate the housing, recreational and social service needs of their aging community members utilizing existing resources in the constructed environment. While it may not always be possible for an aging individual to remain in their current home, appropriately designed senior housing options in the same community may offer an attractive alternative to moving elsewhere. Everyone wins when the aging citizens’ desire to age in place is accommodated while also allowing them to remain active members of the community. These (local) demand-responsive senior living options are often created out of space that formerly served a different purpose: an abandoned school, industrial or warehouse facility, old retail space, etc. Similarly, when service, recreational, or commercial facilities are needed to serve an area with a heavy or growing concentration of older adults, communities often look to the existing stock of available space as an alternative to new construction.
Old buildings, new purpose
The buildings that house these local-demographic inspired senior housing and service facilities were rarely constructed for purposes consistent with their new client-specific and operational needs. In Cockeysville, Maryland, an old school building became home to senior apartments and a senior center. The Senior Citizens Community Center in Miamisburg, Ohio combined a former utilities sub-station and adjacent post office under one roof to serve a new, entirely different mission. A study was conducted to convert an abandoned submarine parts manufacturing facility in rural Pennsylvania into a senior center and café. And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a one-room schoolhouse was given new life as a Senior Computer Learning Center. In each case, the adaptive reuse of the existing building offered an attractive opportunity to locate housing and/or services in a highly desirable central location within the community. As a bonus, in some cases renovated structures like these offer continuity and reaffirmation to the alumni and retirees who were once students or workers there.
Often the kinds of buildings that come under consideration for re-use as senior housing or service facilities present serious obstacles to essential access and ease-of-use. While finding ways to get residents or clients into the building and allow them to move around freely are among the first and most compelling challenges addressed, interior layout options are frequently limited by immovable bearing walls, undesirable door and window locations, and other issues. Nonetheless, the adaptation of old buildings to serve future generations of elders is likely to become more and more common as pressure to facilitate aging in place in our communities continues to grow. Their long-term effectiveness is at least partially rooted in the designer’s ability to incorporate essential features of lifespan-appropriate design despite the limitations imposed by existing conditions.
Aging in context
Normal changes in posture, gait, flexibility, strength, stamina, body processes, and sensory capacity—often combined with disease processes—may eventually make it virtually impossible for an individual to function safely, comfortably, and independently in an environment that was designed for “average” needs and capacities, as most buildings and homes are. Even when there is strong motivation to stay, and when home modifications are achievable, other kinds of issues may render a home unsuitable for senior living. Changes in the social make-up, resources, and amenities in the surrounding community; financial challenges; isolation as spouses, family and friends die or move away; and many other factors may provide equally compelling reasons to make a change of residence. The demand for facilities designed to ameliorate these problems while offering the continuity of remaining in the area must be met with insightful planning and design responses that address all of these issues, and anticipate additional change. Principles of universal design must be applied scrupulously, with additional attention to specific late-life issues, to truly accommodate a goal of long-term suitability. Planned and designed well in concert with appropriate and necessary social, medical, and financial supports, this kind of “naturally occurring retirement community” (NORC) becomes a multi-generational community where aging adults can realize their dream of aging in place.
Lifespan Design Studio ©2006