As people age, their vision, spatial skills and senses become impaired, creating challenges in navigating their built environment. Lighting, color selections and acoustics play important roles in senior health and well-being.
Good acoustics can also reduce stress, anxiety and irritability among seniors. Sound-absorbing materials placed strategically throughout corridors, dining areas and public spaces helps minimize noise reverberations and echo.
Brighter and more energy-efficient lights not only help improve vision but also provide operational savings through reduced maintenance and energy costs. Many senior living communities are now emphasizing natural lighting through large windows in resident rooms or using skylights to let sunlight into interior circulation spaces.
As the vision for seniors decline, it becomes essential that there are clear visual cues to distinguish surfaces and planes within a room. Similar-toned walls, floors and furniture may cause confusion for aging eyes resulting in missteps or accidental spills. To help ease confusion among older eyes, our interior designers specialize in applying contrasting colors on stairs landing walls as visual markers for each element in the space – this helps avoid missteps or accidental falls from happening unintentionally.