When it comes to designing a successful Senior Living Community, the end users have to be at the heart of the design process. Designing and programming spaces for seniors to continue to learn and grow is vital to the overall health and wellness of individuals within the community, and by extension the surrounding neighborhoods.
During the designing process, it’s important to understand the broader connection and integration of the Senior Living Campus into the surrounding community. Ideally, senior living campuses are situated within close proximity to a hospital, schools, shopping centers, and nearby parks or walking paths. A location such as this provides seniors, families, and staff access to the services they need.
In addition to campus location, the overall programming of the amenities within the campus/building are crucial to further community integration. By providing spaces that are multi-purpose in their function, a wider range of activities can be offered, thus supplying activities that appeal to a broader audience.
These spaces tend to be some of the most utilized on a senior living campus. They’re the perfect place to host guest lecturers from nearby schools and colleges, enjoy music recitals from local youths, attend weekly religious services, or even host bingo night for both senior residents and local community members.
Most commonly these spaces are used for art classes, but other creative pursuits such as woodworking or floral arranging would be great to host in these spaces. Additionally, some communities have Intergenerational Care programs where local children come to participate in crafts with the senior residents. Programs like this can take on a number of different forms, but “…at it’s core, it’s a program or service that’s offered concurrently to multiple generations with the purpose of fostering meaningful cross-age relationships.” -Sheri Steinig, director of Strategic Initiatives and Communications at Generations United.
Many communities have fitness spaces for contracted physical therapists, and outside fitness instructors to lead residents in wellness programs. Because of the provided equipment catered to seniors, membership programs offered to outside community members to utilize the fitness studio and courses is a great revenue builder as well as service provided for the local community.
Book clubs, poker nights, even wii bowling leagues have all been clubs and activities we’ve been tasked to design around. Having a designated activity space within the community allows residents the ownership to form their own clubs dedicated to the activities they want to participate in. These spaces are often in use with scheduled activities that keep up daily resident engagement.
