Building Type Basics for Senior Living 2nd Edición

Book Preface

This is the second edition of Building Type Basics for Senior Living. Since the first edi-tion was published in 2003, the planning and design of facilities for the aging have continued to evolve. Many members of the baby boom generation have had to learn about the available services and facilities as they assisted their aging parents. What they have found in many communities across North America has left them unsatisfied and concerned. Too many of the existing options for their parents, and eventually for them as well, do not provide an attractive, support-ive, and affordable lifestyle.
Over the last three decades, new and im-proved models for senior living and care have emerged to supplement the increasing-ly obsolete existing stock of nursing homes and “old age homes.” The public has become aware that there are now alternatives, but the supply of well-planned and designed fa-cilities has not kept up with the rapid in-crease in the number of frail and/or cognitively impaired elderly needing housing and care. In 2012, there were 40 million Americans over 65. Thanks to the baby boom, demographers predict that number-will increase to 63 million by 2025. More-over, 8 million will be over 85—an age at which most people need a supportive environment.
In the decade since the first edition of this book was published, there have been many creative responses to the specialized needs of the aging that have dramatically changed what sponsors and their design teams need to know about this specialized building type. Among the major new trends described in this edition are the “small house” and Green House movements, which have rapidly gained popularity across the United States; the widespread repositioning of existing facilities to respond to the many changes in the market—including the grow-ing number of people moving into senior living facilities when older and frailer; new technologies, such as tele‐health monitoring, that address specific senior living issues; the growing number of senior living options be-ing developed in urban areas; and the explo-sive growth in interest in senior living facilities outside the United States.
This second edition not only includes an-other decade of experience in the field but also has incorporated contributions and ex-perience from all 13 of Perkins Eastman’s of-fices, as well as our national senior living leadership group. Moreover, it includes ma-terial from a number of other leading spe-cialists in this field. As with the first edition, this book has been written and illustrated to provide sponsors, their design teams, and other interested readers with an introduction to the major issues and choices facing any organization planning a senior living build-ing program.
The need for well planned and designed senior living facilities is not limited to North America, Western Europe, Japan, and other highly developed countries. China and India are facing even more rapid increases in their older age populations. In China, for exam-ple, the over‐60 age group is projected to reach 436 million by 2050. China’s one‐child policy has seriously weakened one of the traditional pillars of its senior care system, and little else exists to provide an appropriate environment for those older Chinese who need specialized housing and care. Both the public and the national leadership are aware of this problem and are scrambling to develop appropriate responses. They see the United States as the only coun-try that has tried to respond to the special-ized needs of an aging population on a large scale. They recognize some of the weaknesses of the U.S. model, and they are adapting it to their needs. India and many other rapidly developing countries are also beginning to address the needs of their older citizens.
Ten years from now it is likely that the United States designers will be learning from their experiences overseas. Given the size of the worldwide need for attractive, affordable supportive senior living, the demand for in-formed interest and action will only in-crease. The many people who worked on the development of this book hope that it will be a useful contribution to future senior liv-ing building programs both in North America and abroad.

Bradford Perkins FAIA, MRAIC, AICP Perkins Eastman