Growing old in style: How technology will transform senior living for future generations

Posted by Knight Frank Newcastle on 27th June 2019 -

Senior living spaces are evolving with the help of technology to create dynamic and sensory stimulating spaces for older people to live in. Adaptive, design-led solutions are at the forefront of this transformation in the retirement housing sector.

Evolution of Senior Living

Senior living design has significantly transformed in recent years through a better understanding of the changing needs in later living and rapidly evolving technologies. What type of spaces should we build for longer and more active later lives?

Thomas Hardin, director at PLP Architecture, with collaborator Anne Feikje Weidema, analyse four key topics influencing the design of modern senior living property.

Co-Living

Originally imagined for young, urban professionals, the co-living typology provides an ideal model for the urban later-living product. Private, individual space is reduced to an elegant and efficiently designed minimum, reducing the concern and expense of maintaining a large house.

Imagine a luxury hotel suite, expertly equipped with everything needed in the ideal location. The service-based model provides worry-free living.

Housekeeping, routine maintenance and utilities can be included in the product cost. Services may extend to include anything from laundry service, meal and grocery deliveries, to healthcare.

Social engagement is crucial to later living, as continued activity improves both long term mental acuity and helps combat the risk of isolation and loneliness.

Communal and shared spaces promote neighbourly interaction and provide space for informal gatherings and planned events and activities.

Adaptability and the Design of the Unit

Later living isn’t stagnant – it is defined by change: changes from work to leisure, changes in mobility, changes in cognition. Living spaces should have a universal and inclusive design that is suitable for all.

Spaces designed for later living must then be flexible and adaptable.

They must be able to adapt to the varying needs of the physically ageing body and transformation in the way the ageing mind works. Later living should enable and support changing care needs.

The design must be adaptable to changes that happen within one’s own lifetime but also for changes across a building’s lifespan.

Sustainability must be at the forefront of design, considering the longevity of materials and the capacity for adaptive reuse and planned transformation.

Buildings must not be too reliant on a single technology that will obsolesce but allow for reprogramming and adaptation.

Role of Technology

Technology is essential to unlocking the potential of urban later living. The internet of things is changing the way we interact with our built environment. Connectivity facilitates and enhances every-day tasks from turning on the lights and controlling the temperature to grocery shopping.

For the ageing resident, this integrated technology can extend the possibilities of independent living. Modern tech provides transparent, passive, integrated health assessment and monitoring.

Phones, watches and fitness straps are equipped with the hardware required to monitor vital signs. In a built environment designed with later-life in mind, this can be integrated into a sophisticated and seamless support system for an ageing demographic.

This tech can passively monitor vital signs and provide a conditioned response linked to the building concierge and a nominated, affiliated healthcare provider.

Sensory experience

Tactile Stimuli

A building can accommodate tactile stimuli by working with different materials. By using tactile materials in transitory spaces such as the corridor leading to the living room, the visually impaired can easily recognise the different spaces.

Sight and view

For the elderly with diminished eyesight lighting is of great importance. From the age of 60, many generally need 15 times as much light as a ten-year-old in order to be able to see the same. Lots of daylight and lamps with a high illumination are therefore of great importance.

Sound

Sound and silence have an effect on our nervous system and our emotional reactions to our surroundings. An environment with diverse residents should take into account individual differences, not only in taste but also in awareness.

Colours

Particular colours stimulate and agitate whereas other colours have a calming effect. The use of green gives a sense of safety, whereas blue has a restful effect and the colours red and yellow both stimulate activity. A good balance should be maintained between the colours used.

Imagine a luxury hotel suite, expertly equipped with everything needed in the ideal location. The service-based model provides worry-free living.

This article first appeared in the Senior Living Survey featuring the latest insights, research and case studies from the UK's retirement sector. 

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