Gentrifying geriatrics : challenging design paradigms for the aged and aging

Abstract

Internationally the world is undergoing a grey revolution, with the average age of the human population being higher than it has ever been before. Within the U.S. context this trend is driven by the Baby Boomers, the 80 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964. As more Boomers enter into late adulthood they will require an increased degree of support as age related needs increase. Historically three approaches have been followed in order to address the needs of the aged: aging in place or in-home care, assisted living and nursing homes. Continuing care communities have attempted to provide an integrated model to assist through all the stages of late adulthood. With the exception of in home care, all architectural models for elderly care have been driven by a paradigm of 'aging as disease' which, through isolation and differentiation, sets up homogenous 'enclaves' for the elderly. This has attributed to the stigmatization associated with the aged and architecture for the aged. This thesis attempts to challenge the paradigms informing architecture for the elderly by proposing a diverse, urban, mixed-use residential development supporting the needs of the aged and the aging. Essential to this is a reconsideration of the contemporary nature of late adulthood which requires an emphasis on lifestyle rather than illness and a manifestation of an architecture that is urban, programmatically mixed, age integrated, specific and flexible.