Housing in the context of the needs of aging societies
Healthy ageing environment, community building and sustainability. The project of age-friendly housing embodies solutions to improve residents' well-being and stimulate daily integrations to increase the social inclusion of the elderly.
The building proposal can be portrayed as a self-sufficient urban quarter with a geriatric clinic, a kindergarten, wellness and a sports area within reach.
Green surroundings and urban farming elements are the base of the design's healthy living environment.
Local
Poland
Poznań
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
The age-friendly housing project expresses a modern approach to designing living spaces in the era of progressive ageing of societies. It aims to develop a method of planning a diverse, sustainable and age-friendly quarter in the centre of an urbanised area, where the elderly constitute 60 - 70% of all residents. The concept accommodates the needs of today's and tomorrow's seniors, who are more self-dependent, mobile and technologically advanced. The project brings solutions that promote physical and mental health, social well-being and ecological aspects. Thus, they were developed 30 age-friendly ideas and 22 pro-ecological solutions. They relate to shaping the housing space, building and maintaining relationships with neighbours, supporting healthy ageing and the independence of its residents, similarly the selection of materials used, biodiversity and the promotion of local food production.
Collective zones for residents, a greenhouse and outdoor activity objects serve to develop interests, spend time actively and stimulate neighbour-based interactions. Galleries and shared balconies are the core of those interactions, as in one form or another located on each floor. Their surface is of use to urban farming and gardening. The heart of the project lies in the biodiverse atrium, a centre of recreation and tranquillity. Generally, nature surrounds the housing, which positively impacts the health of residents.
The functions of ground floor services are to answer to the needs of the neighbourhood. Three functions have major importance in this concept. A geriatric clinic with 24-hour nursing care ensures easy access to medical care. Sports and wellness centre gives the opportunity to increase the level of daily activity. A kindergarten increases the chances of interactions with representatives of different age groups.
age-friendly
inclusion
community
wellness
ecology
The project's sustainability lies in material usage, biodiverse landscaping and urban farming elements.
The design concept incorporates locally selected building materials, such as brick, clinker and wood. The base was to reduce the usage of concrete only for the construction of underground parking, the ground floor of the residential part and staircases cores. For all other parts, CLT is the primary construction material. Wood comes from renewable sources, has a low carbon footprint when produced locally and can be reused in a different form after the finished building life cycle. Above that, wooden construction provides good indoor thermal comfort for flats which reduces the cost of exploitation. Apartment unit design is based on the module from prefabricated elements. That can reduce water and energy consumption on the construction site by shortening the building process. Extensive green roofs with meadows and white roofs also improve indoor thermal conditions and prevent the formation of urban heat islands. For an additional energy supply, 82 m2 of solar panels are designed on the two highest roofs.
The green atrium is designed in native cobblestone. That leads to greater biodiversity and allows high trees to grow without restrictions. Meadows cover a big part of the atrium. They don't require abundant irrigation what contributes to reducing water consumption. Pavings are designed from either permeable concrete or mineral surface. Water stored in rainwater collectors can be used to water urban farms. Graywater can be reused for cleaning and irrigating meadows, yawns, etc.
Local food production is a crucial part of the project and a way of sourcing healthy and organic food without creating additional carbon emissions.
The concept portrays the impact of small and big solutions on the improvement of people's lives and the environment.
The function and functionality dictate aesthetic aspects of the design. The choice of contrasting facade materials supports wayfinding and orientation from the outdoors. The residential part of the building is covered with wooden cladding, while all services remain marked with brick. For that purpose, corners with the shared zone, the geriatric clinic and the kindergarten are also distinguished visually. Services on the ground floor are fully glazed. However, an openwork brick pattern shades places that require more privacy.
All flats have windows from opposite sides to increase the amount of daylight coming in, yet loggias or balconies provide shading during hot days.
The design of staircases means to increase the amount of physical activity among seniors in the simplest way. On each landing, they are furniture to rest on. That encourages residents to use the stairs more often without getting too tired. Additionally, staircases are glazed and the main view is directed towards the atrium.
Nature in the concept is ubiquitous. It surrounds the residential part and becomes the centre of neighbourly life. All of that positively affects people's mental health.
Shared balconies and galleries come from the original idea of designing the building as a gallery-typed one. Later during the designing process, excessive galleries were transformed into shared balconies between two flats. That outcome has a positive effect on relations between neighbours and gives extra space to implement urban farming.
The main characteristic of the project is inclusion, accessibility and also affordability. The whole idea focuses on the social inclusion of the elderly. For that matter, the design contains collective zones for residents, outdoor activity objects and carefully selected services as an answer to modern senior needs and solutions to engage them actively in neighbourhood life. Those facilities stimulate participation in the decision-making process, organization of group classes, or neighbourhood events. As a result, residents are more likely to develop closer relations with neighbours from different age groups.
People of different ages and physical states must have equal access to each part of the building. Thus, all residents can feel included to take part in various activities. In an atrial area, there are designed gardening pots that are convenient to use and accessible for persons in wheelchairs. The swimming pool is fully accessible with a pool lift. The design of the flats is simple and spacious. The bathroom's layout allows unrestricted movement with a wheelchair.
The main idea to make housing affordable was to design it from prefabricated and modular elements from cross-laminated timber, which has great thermal parameters. This solution reduces the costs of exploitation. Rental of space planned for a geriatric clinic, kindergarten and wellness, and sports centre can balance the construction cost of the whole object.
The project and ideas incorporated into it can enhance the knowledge about age-friendly housing and generally highlight an issue of designing to improve the living conditions of the elderly. Promoting these kinds of ideas and initiatives can have a high educational value and result in designing and building more age-friendly objects.
The conceptual framework of age-friendly housing was developed based on performed studies and analyses on the selected area and collected knowledge of principles of age-friendly design. During the early stage, small-scale interviews with an interested age group were helpful to understand the topic. There were discussed their needs and preferences. The value of engagement of the interest group was local and cognitive.
The concept focused mostly on the discipline of architecture and urbanism. However, the basis of understanding the issue comes from social sciences like sociology and analysis of the demographic situation.
The innovative character of the project is in the prioritisation of designing a healthy, inclusive environment. The design brings ideas that promote physical and mental health and emphasises the need for the introduction of community-building aspects to residential buildings.
The project demonstrates the importance of proposing flexible solutions that focus on user needs and environmental considerations. The polish housing market dedicated to seniors is developing slowly and still, there are only a few solutions adapted to the individual needs of the elderly and their social well-being. Active seniors often struggle to find a better alternative in the housing market and are forced to stay in their current, often unsuitable, place of residence.
The concept of age-friendly housing shows that some ideas are easy to implement, but can dramatically improve the living environment for residents.
The approach to the designing process could be replicated. Starting with an examination of the situation of the social group to which the concept applies. Equally important is analysing the indications given by the context of the place and the current situation on the market that the concept applies to. Then, adjusting elements of the design to answer the needs of that group while keeping the investment cost-efficient and sustainable.
The biggest challenge addressed in the project is housing adjusted for the needs of modern society that is constantly ageing. While the ageing of populations is proceeding, the elderly still can feel discluded from social life. That led to the proposal of a local-scale solution of housing for active seniors who can live independently or with a subtle help, and incorporate into it community-building elements that can help to maintain neighbour base relations and interactions. All elements from building layout and selected materials to landscaping and organisation of the area are meant to improve living and social standards for the elderly.
