THESIS QUESTIONS This project revolves around rebuilding a site of a destroyed building in a cultural historically important area.  Acting within the context of the depopulated city this project will investigate how a new building can answer to some of the issues symptomatic of a decreasing and increasingly older population. This project will also investigate how a new building can be adjusted into a historical milieu, not by rebuilding the past, by rather by working with a developed identity.  CONTEXT/SITE The project takes place in Söderhamn, a small city by the coast in southern Norrland, Sweden.  The site is a part of the cultural historically important town hall square.  PROPOSAL The proposal consists of three main parts: a new building, a remodeling of an old building and a part which link them two together. The proposal contains senior apartments and a meeting place shared between residents and the public.

The current shortage of senior housing and the lack of accessibility in today's million-program housing creates concern among the older age group when the need to move becomes necessary with aging. Nowadays, more and more older groups are experiencing a fear of no longer being able to stay in their current homes due to lack of accessibility, which can make everyday life more difficult. Between the period 1965-1974 a million homes were built, which today are facing extensive refurbishment. By increasing the availability of these homes, the demand for senior housing can be accommodated while contributing to a more accessible society. In order to increase accessibility and contribute to an optimal living environment for seniors, technical building measures are required to be taken, as well as improvement regarding the floor plan. A pleasant indoor climate, access to a lift, spacious bathrooms and meeting places are some of the accomodationg that seniors value in their residential building. This report thus examines the required construction technical solutions to increase accessibility and improve the living environment in an existing residential building built under the million program in Finspång municipality. It also examines whether these solutions are technically and financially feasible to carry out, as well as researching what seniors generally appreciate in their living environments.

This Master’s Project is separated into two parts: the introduction and background informing an affordable senior housing market study, and a market study prepared for People’s Self Help Housing (PSHH). The introduction begins by providing current and future trends for seniors at the national and state levels. This includes discussion of the “Baby Boomer” age cohort and their rapid growth and potential impact to the housing market. The introduction then describes challenges facing developers of affordable senior housing. These challenges include the type, location, and funding sources for future senior housing projects. All federal funding sources for affordable senior housing projects are then briefly presented and their applicability to the proposed project is explained. The introduction sets the stage for a market study created to determine the feasibility of an affordable senior housing project in the Santa Maria/Orcutt market area.

No description available.

Appropriate housing for the aging American population is a timely topic of research in both housing and gerontology. Universal design is an innovation in housing design that is gaining interest from both industries. This research examines the effectiveness of universal design features that have been identified by experts in the field of aging, housing, and universal design as important to resident and caregiver participants of the ECHO demonstration housing program. A national survey was conducted that included all available current residents of the HUD ECHO houses and their caregivers. The relationships between age, effectiveness of universal design features, health and dependency were investigated. Quantitative results include some confounding relationships, and plausible explanations. A qualitative analysis, based on on-site and telephone interviews, and tape recordings of those interviews with residents and their caregivers, as well as architectural drawings, observation, and photographs of the ECHO houses provided additional details. The qualitative approach indicated that many of the universal design features recommended by the experts consulted satisfactorily met the needs of residents and/or their caregivers. It also revealed, however that some features were not considered important by residents and caregivers, some were not reported as present (when they were documented by the researcher as present), and at least one HUD-specified universal design feature was not provided by ECHO houses. Another aspect of the qualitative perspective addressed the health of the residents. Health characteristics are presented in the context of their effect on dependency. Phase II dependency task information was compared to that reported in phase I, and improvement and decline was noted. Conclusions, and Implications that elaborate on findings, and future research is recommended for taking this research to the next level. / Ph. D.

This thesis proposes a strategy to capitalize on the abundance of derelict service stations in Vancouver, BC, as a means to address the current crisis of seniors’ housing and services. Vancouver’s glut of vacant service stations reflects a widespread trend of service station closures across North America. As former service stations, these sites are commonly contaminated and have to undergo remediation before they can be rezoned for other uses. However, this network of sites has great potential for long term development. The goal is to create an alternative to the homogeneous seniors’ home currently available and establish a network of ‘Community Stations’ spread throughout the city. These sites will act as nodes to provide housing and services for seniors in the local community. The design is a phased development which will allow time for the site to remediate as well as, through community involvement, establish value and ownership.

Taking a social design approach to aging, we relate earlier work in age-friendly communities, aging in place and social isolation to landscape design. Identifying the critical principles of social participation and how these needs can be met through landscape intervention, we formulate a set of criteria, through which the landscape architect can design healthy and sustainable communities for active, rural, older adults. We begin by breaking down some common social issues of modern-day older adults and conclude that to begin improving the lives of this sector of the population we must seek to reduce social isolation. Social participation chosen as the antithesis of isolation is then broken down into three main principles: autonomy, social opportunity and health. These main principles are developed into a set of physical design criteria to be implemented through the redevelopment of a historical school within the rural community of Pulaski, Virginia. Further discussing elements related to site-scale design, this project wraps up with the creation of a standard evaluation form, designed to give feedback for not only the current project, but those wishing to develop communities that encourage social participation among older adults. / Master of Landscape Architecture / Taking a social design approach to aging, we relate earlier work in age-friendly communities, aging in place and social isolation to landscape design. Identifying the critical principles of social participation and how these needs can be met through landscape intervention, we formulate a set of criteria, through which the landscape architect can design healthy and sustainable communities for active, rural, older adults. We begin by breaking down some common social issues of modern-day older adults and conclude that to begin improving the lives of this sector of the population we must seek to reduce social isolation. Social participation chosen as the antithesis of isolation is then broken down into three main principles: autonomy, social opportunity and health. These main principles are developed into a set of physical design criteria to be implemented through the redevelopment of a historical school within the rural community of Pulaski, Virginia. Further discussing elements related to site-scale design, this project wraps up with the creation of a standard evaluation form, designed to give feedback for not only the current project, but those wishing to develop communities that encourage social participation among older adults.

Title: Elderly deaf - The significance of an own senior housing. A qualitative interview studyon how special senior housing affects the experience of well-being of elderly deaf [translated title]The purpose of the study was to examine how elderly deaf people experience living in aspecial senior housing, which is the country’s first and only housing with sign language fordeaf and deafblind in the region of Stockholm. The focus was to study how this seniorhousing affected the well-being of the residents and their experience of this accommodation.The study was based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. Interviews wereconducted with four residents who have lived in the senior housing for deaf and deafblindpeople since it opened in spring 2013. The theoretical perspective of the study was on how tocope with aging. The result shows that the residents chose to live in the sign languageenvironment which positively affected their well-being. In their previous accommodation theyhad felt alone and felt insecure when they wanted to communicate with and understand theirneighbours contrary to living in the sign language community. There were certain negativeeffects on the well-being of the residents since the senior housing did not have a caretaker, noplanned activities, no hobby room and lack of availability in this residential area.

Vad händer när en äldre person vill sälja bostaden och flytta till något som är lättare skött? Finns det möjligheter för äldre människor att bo kvar på landsbygden i samma by som innan? Vilka möjligheter finns för äldre personer som vill flytta till en mindre bostad? Kan ett koncept tas fram just för detta uppdrag? Detta examensarbete behandlar problematiken kring hur äldre personer står inför en utmaning att komma till ett enklare boende som är mer anpassat för den äldre i funktions- och underhållssyfte. Examensarbetet bygger på ett pågående projekt som äger plats i Norr Amsberg, en liten by tre kilometer norr om Borlänge. Detta examensarbete bygger på en kvalitativ metod då inga beräkningar skall utföras. Faktaunderlag för denna studie kommer från intervjuer, forskningsartiklar och statistik. Sex intervjupersoner har intervjuats under detta arbete, två forskare som finns stationerade i Falun, tre äldre personer som har passerat sextiofem år och slutligen eldsjälen som startat igång projektet gällande seniorbostäder i Norr Amsberg. Detta ger en bred grund att stå på för att dra de slutsatser som har upprättats i rapporten. Ett koncepthus har att ritats fram under tidensgång där hänsyn har tagits till de intervjuades önskemål som utseende, funktionskrav och platsplacering. Huset uppfyller alla tillgänglighetskrav som en modern bostad innehåller. Byggnaden som tas fram är ett koncept och inte den färdiga produkten. Viktiga slutsatser som har framkommit under denna studie är hur viktigt boendets utformning är och hur den påverkar äldre betydligt mer än vad man allmänt tror och att behovet kommer öka markant gällande anpassade boenden i framtiden. Vikten av boendets utformning och hur den påverkar äldre är några stora nyckelfaktorer som samtliga kommuner lär ta till sig när planering av en typ av ”mellan boende” för ädre ska tas fram. / What happens when an elderly person wants to sell the property and move on to something that is easier to handle? Are there opportunities for older people to live in the same city as before? What opportunities are there for elderly people who want to move to a smaller residence? Can a concept be drawn up just for this assignment? This degree project will address the problem of how elderly people face a challenge to get to a simpler accommodation that is more suited to the elderly for functional and maintenance purposes. The thesis is based on an ongoing project that takes place in Norr Amsberg, a small town three kilometer north of Borlänge. In this degree project, a qualitative method will be used which means no calculations is needed. Thus, facts will be gathered from interviews, research articles and statistics. Six people have been interviewed during this project. Those who have been interviewed are two scientists who are stationed in Falun, three older people who have passed sixty-five years of ages and finally the enthusiast who started whole project in Norr Amsberg. This provides a broad ground for the conclusions drawn in the report. A concept house has been drawn up during this time, taking account of the wishes of the interviewees as appearance, functional requirements and location. The house has all accessibility requirements that a modern home will have. The building that is produced is a concept and not the finished product. Important conclusions that have been made during this study are how important the housing design is and how it affects the elderly significantly more than is generally believed and that the need will increase significantly in terms of custom housing in the future. The importance of housing design and how it affects older people are some major key factors that all municipalities learn to address when planning a type of "senior housing" for elderly people.

The subject of master thesis is conversion of grounds of the former specialized school in in the centre of Rousínov town. It is placed senior housing, center for children and youth, starter flats for young people Into the existing building. New building of café continues to the exhibition area is placed on small square. The proposal deals in detail with surrounding area, which are part of the grounds and are directly linked to the buildings. Effort is to open currently closed grounds to the public, to create high quality of the public space with suitable fillings for its visitors and residents of the flats.