Addressing Future Pandemics in Senior Living Design

While COVID-19 had an impact on most people’s lives, it arguably took the biggest toll on seniors. This fact has accelerated the search for new design models that provide safe and desirable senior living options. In addition, a very small percentage of those 65+ reside in a senior living community of any kind. The majority choose to live at home. These factors are causing new living communities to be increasingly directed toward concepts of resiliency and choice to expand market share. Let’s see how architecture and design is addressing these issues.

Addressing an Uncertain Future

The pandemic, which hit congregate living residents, has been a massive wake up call. This isn’t the first pandemic in history, and it won’t be the last. This unfortunate truth is expediting the move toward a more residential, small-scale type of living – the  small house design model. This model seeks to group skilled nursing residents into households of 7-12 persons. Each household looks and functions much like a normal house, complete with a living room, dining room, kitchen and more. Recent research into the small house model has shown that COVID transmission and death rates are significantly lower than in more traditional senior living environments. Residents also enjoy more comfort and choice throughout their day-to-day lives.

Improving Safety and Standard of Living

Nobody wants to decrease their standard of living. Many seniors, who are currently living in an apartment, cooperative or condominium, desire to continue living in a residence similar to what they’re used to. It is important to place more attention on making new and existing multifamily-style communities. This can be particularly helpful for those dealing with cognitive decline. However, simply maintaining a certain standard of living isn’t necessarily ideal. We think a much better goal is to actually improve upon the standard. Examples of this can be seen in the increasing demand for luxurious senior living experiences. Luxury brands – mostly notably, the Ritz-Carlton – are capitalizing on this by developing senior living developments that combine high-end living with name-brand hotel services. These same concepts can be applied to your senior living community to provide an exceptional living experience.

Promoting an Active Lifestyle

Continue with themes of health and standard of living, senior communities with amenities that promote a healthy lifestyle – gyms, gardens, walking paths, etc. – are becoming more and more popular. Communities that manage to connect residents with the community at large by offering valuable access to the outdoors, recreation, and self-care, are by far the most attractive. Are you interested in having a senior living community that provides unexpected levels of safety, and an unusually high standard of living? We can help with that! Click here to learn more about CMBA Architects.

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