Special Edition Newsletter Focuses on Senior Center Makeovers
If you could change your building, what would you do? Give it a facelift to boost curb appeal? Add a fitness wing, or maybe a café? Knock it down and start over? Senior centers everywhere are increasingly aware of the limitations imposed on their plans for the next decade by the buildings they occupy. This special edition of Lifespan Perspective explores senior center renovations, additions, and new designs: and the architectural studies that often precede them.
Your vision, Your building
The discussion that ensued when National Institute of Senior Centers Forum participants were invited to “Ask the Architect” (Lifespan Design Studio partner Doug Gallow) anything they’d like about an existing or proposed senior center demonstrated the profound diversity in this dynamic industry. Inquiries ranged from noise abatement in an old gymnasium to spatial requirements for a Starbucks-style cafe. Regardless of the size of the center or focus of their dreams, all of the respondents were very aware of the significant impact of the constructed environment on their ability to pursue their mission and serve their clients effectively. For each of them, the “ideal facility” is defined in a unique way. This summary of the issues raised by Forum participants and Doug’s responses was published on the NCOA/NISC website in the fall of 2006.
Community-based responses for aging in place
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.
Making the most of what you have:
An introduction to senior center modification
An introduction to senior center modification
Many senior center directors dream of building a new facility…and live with the reality that it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Being “stuck” with the building you’re in doesn’t mean that you have to live with all of its flaws—in most cases there are things that can be done to improve the ways in which a facility “works” for its programs, staff, and clients, without spending a lot of money.