Conference paper: Design with Concerns – a community-based senior center in Germany
- International MinD conference 2019 / Internationale Fachkonferenz
- Peer-reviewed publication | Conference presentation | Panel discussion
- Keywords: senior center; design practice; real project; application of design interventions
Abstract:
Community-based care facilities have a positive effect in supporting older adults and people with dementia thus improving their well-beings. Despite authoring empirical studies focused on providing design interventions, researchers often remain unclear about whether and how exactly practitioners and architects should implement these interventions. This paper presents an on-going project of a senior center in a small municipality in Germany. It aims to explain how the municipality (the client) and the design team (the architect) cooperate to apply updated research-based interventions, and how trade-offs are made.
The paper discusses several research-based interventions during the design process. They include:
- the early engagement of architects into the planning process;
- the use of small-scale care units as care concept;
- offering easily accessible and visible communal areas within the building;
- providing an area open to the neighborhood;
- taking into consideration of the local urban form and materials.
The paper enables the readers to gain an insider look of the de- sign process of a care facility and become familiar with some of the common trade-offs in design practice. Sufficient access to research materials and efficient communication with the client from the beginning of a project are the key elements to successfully implement re- search-based design interventions.
Link to download the paper