Change Agents
by Leslie Moldow, AIA
2008 Chair, Design for Aging Advisory Group

Change agents are what all architects strive to be. How can we continue to improve society, community and environments for our users, in large or small ways?

This past spring, as co-sponsors with the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health, the Design for Aging Knowledge Community got the opportunity to affect change.

In April, on behalf of the US Access Board, we held a workshop on Assisted Transfers. I know what you’re all thinking - "what a glamorous topic." But those of you in the field designing for the elderly have grappled with how best to serve our clients while meeting the letter of the access board regulations. The two goals currently conflict, and our clients are not best served. What research has been done in the field by gerontologists, nurses, and designers illustrates that the guidelines for ADA, originally intended for people with upper body strength, do not help the elderly.
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Adult Day Care, An Emerging Component of At-Home Care
by George J. Kimmerle, AIA, PP, NCARB and X. Cindy Cui, RA

Two combining forces are making adult day care a hot topic in the field of elder care. The first is the emerging impact of the baby boomer cohort, whose initial members are entering retirement in 2008. “With the first baby boomers turning 60 this year, exactly how it will play out remains to be seen,” said Lisa Stark and Megan Carpenter in a recent ABC profile on the subject. The massive impact that this generation is expected to have on elder care in the nation is no less than glacial.

Second, the rising cost of health care across the board demands that alternates be sought that allow the elderly to stay at home for as long as possible. According to one industry source, in-home care is one of the fastest growing trends because there’s little reason to move. “Today’s elderly aren’t likely to end up living in the homes of their children, the way previous generations did. They want to grow old at home, the place they feel most comfortable. They’re hanging on to their homes as long as possible and they’re finding that much of what they need can be ordered on the Internet and delivered right to their doorsteps, and adult day care is a complementary service to the rising tide of alternative treatment and at-home nursing programs”.

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Aging-in-place: Universal design is in demand
“There is Green in Blue”
by James V. Vitale, AIA, LEED AP

Born in 1947, I am one among 77 million boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
An article in Buildings magazine by Jeff Williams indicates that we boomers represent
almost a trillion dollars in disposable income. As such we represent one of the fastest growing markets for well designed and useable goods and services in the in the U.S.
My 55-plus generation is sophisticated, active, and independent, with unprecedented buying power. With it our impact on the building products and design industry is far-reaching and filled with opportunity for those who have insight into how to market to this influential crowd. There is truly “green in blue”.

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THE GREEN HOUSE Design Charrette
THE GREEN HOUSE project is changing preconceptions of aging in long-term care settings by transforming the culture and place of care into vital and vibrant communities of individuals living together, at home. To learn more about THE GREEN HOUSE project go to www.ncbcapitalimpact.org/thegreenhouse. Please see the DFA Allied Events page to learn more about the programs of our allied organizations.

Web Exclusive: The benefits of green senior care facilities
Examining the synergies between growing old and going green
From the April 10, 2007 issue of Environmental Design + Construction Magazine.

Components' Corner
In an effort to reach out to a broader constituency, the Design for Aging Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects has established Design for Aging Committees in Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and Boston. This is a first step leading ultimately to DFA Committees in all or most AIA components throughout the country. In addition to reaching architects at the grassroots level, component chapters offer more opportunities to interact with caregivers, developers, operators and allied professionals. Meetings typically occur monthly, affording multiple and more frequent venues and discussion topics. In an effort to support and promote our component committees, DFA applied for and received a grant from the AIA to conduct Post Occupancy Evaluations in Boston, Seattle and San Francisco.

Boston
The Boston Society of Architects' Design for Aging Committee has been meeting since September 2007. Meetings are held at the BSA, 52 Broad Street, Boston, MA on the third Tuesday of each month at 5:15 pm; refreshments are provided. Topics have ranged from a presentation of a Design For Aging Review award-winning project, to one of New England’s premier developer’s vision for the future, to the author of Post Occupancy Evaluations:  Lessons Learned from Senior Living Environments. This spring and summer the programs have had a common theme, concentrating specifically on Alzheimer’s Disease and memory impairment. One of the activities planned for the fall of 2008 will be a Post Occupancy Evaluation of a former Design for Aging Review award-winning New England community.

Philadelphia
The Design for Aging Knowledge Community is in the organizational stages in the Philadelphia area. A diverse group of individuals with an interest in Senior Living Environments has been meeting on the fourth Thursday of the month to organize an interesting list of events for the upcoming year. With AAHSA (American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging)'s annual meeting to be held this fall in Philadelphia, it's a great time to get everyone excited and involved! The first informational meeting will be on Thursday, September 25th at 6:00pm, location to be determined (refreshments will be provided). The first session will focus on Age Sensitivity Training (the proper language, etiquette and nomenclature for the senior environment). Contact Stefanie Spinelli at sspinelli@ph.wrtdesign.com or 215-732-5215.

San Francisco
The AIA San Francisco Design for Aging Committee kicked off its existence in November 2007 with a presentation by Dennis Cope, AIA , who served on the latest Design for Aging Review jury. Meetings are held monthly at the AIA SF headquarters at 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, on the first Tuesday of each month at noon (brown bag). We currently have over 75 member participants on a continually growing email distribution list. It is an active group that includes not only Architects/Designers but also Interior Designers, Landscape Architects, Providers/Developers, Contractors and the San Francisco State Gerontology Department. Related groups such as Aging Services of California (the State branch of AAHSA) are supportive of our efforts and growth, and we extend our welcome to all interested in senior design from San Francisco, the Bay Area and all of California. We have already conducted a tour of an existing community, lead by a resident who participated in the renovation design, and plan further tours, exhibits and Post-Occupancy evaluations. Upcoming is a lecture by a Landscape Architect on “Healing Gardens” for seniors. Our goals are fostering design innovation, advocacy, and regulatory interaction.

Seattle
AIA Seattle formed a Design for Aging committee in September 2007. Our initial approach is different from other chapters. Encouraged by Executive Director Lisa Richmond and further supported by the Board, our meetings are focused on a Design for Aging, full-day forum which will be held December 3, 2008. Entitled Pig in the Python: Perspectives on Design for the Coming Boomer Wave, the overarching goal of the forum is to kick-start a dialogue locally, bringing together voices that are working on solutions that support and improve the quality of life for older adults. Those voices include architects and allied professionals, developers and providers of seniors housing and long-term care, municipal leaders, advocates for older adults, legislators, as well as consumers. We anticipate that the forum will serve as a way to continue building momentum for future monthly topical meetings, similar to what’s being accomplished in Boston and San Francisco, for example. We usually meet the first Friday of each month from Noon to 1:30 at the AIA Seattle office.

The Fifth Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference and Exhibition
July 7-8, 2008
San Francisco
A Conference & Exhibition on the Convergence of Consumer & Healthcare Technologies
Special Focus on Remote Monitoring & Home Telehealth for Managing Diseases & Promoting Wellness

The Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD)
July 26-31, 2008
Chicago
As a part of the Alzheimer’s Association research program, this international conference serves as a catalyst for generating new knowledge about dementia and fostering a vital, collegial research community. This meeting will bring together more than 5,000 researchers, physicians and care providers from 60 countries – the largest group of international leaders in Alzheimer research and care ever convened.

Planning and Design for a New Generation of Seniors: a Focused Look at Retirement
August 6-8, 2008
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Cambridge, MA
New generations of aging adults will have many more options than their parents did. In the design of senior housing, it is imperative that members of the design and development team understand and appreciate the nuances of their target market and respond with sensitive and appropriate program and design solutions. In this program, we examine the important interweaving of market, operations, finance, and design that leads to successful projects.

See more allied organization events at the DFA Allied Organization Events page.

Lessons from Disney
by Glenn Tipton, FAIA

This will be my third piece written for DFA that will sound to the reader like I actually do not work for a living! This time, I am writing after we just spent a week with our son and daughter-in-law and their three children in Disney World.

The revelation of the trip to me was twofold: one, Disney World is not all about “children,” but it is all about “children of all ages;” two, there are many parallels to the life of a retirement community.

I’ve been to Disney several times over the years, as my wife and I raised our children. Now, returning with grandchildren allows me to see what has changed and what remains the same. Of course, much remains the same; but much has been considerably revamped.
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In this issue we profile two Design for Aging Review Merit Award winners: Silver Lake Commons in Pittsburgh and Park Homes at Parkside in Hillsboro, KS.

Silver Lake Commons, Pittsburgh 
Perkins Eastman

Silver Lake Commons, a residence for seniors, reinvents public housing. It presents a new aging-in-place model that allows residents to make the transition from independent to assisted living. With two-thirds of its residents qualified for public housing, the 75-unit development is also a model for designing, building, and managing low-income elderly housing to serve a population that typically lacks access to assisted living. In place of a conventional public housing high-rise building, the three-story courtyard-oriented building mirrors the neighborhood fabric. With a wrap-around porch, bay windows, and plentiful landscaping, along with a sheltering roof eave, custom brackets, and careful brick detailing, this highly visible building has become a neighborhood asset. Rather than institutional sterility, the building offers residential rooms and amenities commonly reserved for market-rate developments. The building entrance, for example, opens into a well-furnished living room rather than an empty lobby.
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Park Homes at Parkside, Hillsboro, KS
InVision Architecture

Rural areas enjoy a strong sense of community. Maintaining connection to that community is important to the residents of Park Place at Parkside, particularly when they require nursing care. To deinstitutionalize this elderly care campus, we wanted to provide architectural continuity of community within a rural context. In creating “homes” for residents, we began to change how people viewed this facility--as a place where you can continue to grow as a valuable member of the larger community, instead of one in which you languish until the end of your life. The residential scale is inviting to both the residents and the community; creating households infuses a familial ambiance, blurs the distinction between resident and staff, and enhances the creative caregiving of the staff. The site provides natural outdoor gathering spaces outdoors for all who live within the community. As a result, Park Place is a contributing thread to the larger community fabric.
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Will Rogers's advice on growing older (from www.seniormag.com)

First: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about
your age and start bragging about it.

Second: The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in
line for.

Third: Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want
people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and
some of the roads weren't paved.

Fourth:  When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to
youth, think of Algebra.

Fifth: You know you are getting old when every thing either dries up
or leaks.

Sixth: I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

Seventh: One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that
it is such a nice change from being young.

Eighth: One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has
been.

Ninth: Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Tenth: Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And finally, If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old.