The Important Principles At The Heart Of Aging In Place
Aging In Place needs to be considered at every stage of the design process because we all benefit from creating inclusive environments that allow everyone to thrive.
AGING IN PLACE (AIP) is centered around a simple concept in design- emphasizing an individual’s long-term self-sufficiency in their home. It acknowledges the notion that the residential home must evolve to accommodate a user’s shifting needs. While researching AIP four concepts have emerged as overarching guiding categories of principles: independence, accessibility, adaptability, and environmental integration. Each of the Aging In Place Principles that will be featured in my blog will fit into one of these guiding categories.
AIP is often thought of primarily in the context of designing for seniors but is beginning to gain traction and significance, mainly due to pressing social issues such as the fact that 16.3% of our population is over the age of 65 and that percentage is expected to grow to 20.4% by 2040 (1). Additionally, roughly 10% of all Americans have difficulty walking or climbing stairs (2), 13.7% have disabilities that impact their mobility, and 25.7% have a disability that impacts their day-to-day life (3). In order to provide residential architecture that can make everyone feel at home, it is critical that Aging in Place (AIP) be embraced by architects, developers, and others who play a role in housing creation. When we design to include those with limited mobility or other challenges often associated with aging, we are also making an environment that benefits all who inhabit it.
Who benefits from Aging In Place design? This graph illustrates the percentage of Americans impacted by different disability types as well as the overall percentage that would be benefited from designing for Aging In Place. (3)
Aging In Place Principles
Accessibility
When assessing a home’s accessibility, both physical and mental aspects should be considered. Physical accessibility applies to more traditional architectural standards, such as flush flooring and the absence of stairs. Mental accessibility applies to functional considerations which are often unregulated or subjective, such as intuitive way-finding or innate high tolerance for error. It is important that all AIP homes are able to serve any who may enter so forethought is paramount. While there is no guarantee of addressing all future challenges in one home, many such challenges can and should be anticipated. AIP relies on a designer applying thoughtful and well-researched principles throughout the design process to extend the long-term relevance of the home. The benefits of improvements in physical accessibility are often magnified in the long term, as further modifications are largely unnecessary and the relevance of the original design choices increases. The impact of mental usability can be similarly beneficial and that impact relies heavily on the clarity and simplicity of the original home design.
It is crucial for AIP homes to prioritize programmatic legibility and communicability of intended use as these factors become increasingly relevant as we age and as the home hosts a shifting group of occupants. Legibility relates to the ability of the occupant to comprehend, from observation, the program of the home and how to navigate it. In a similar vein, communicability is prized for easy transmission of information which makes for a more inherently usable and minimally confusing user experience. For example, throughout the life of a home, the homeowner might want to rent out a unit or room, which would be made easier by having clear functional and programmatic delineations for the sake of the renter, such as clear private and public spaces and intuitively designed storage elements. The homeowner might also be losing their sight and want to comfortably navigate their home with the assistance of built-in balance elements and seamless flooring, which help to minimize falls. Relevancy and ease of use, ultimately, are key to accessibility.
Independence
The second proposed principle of AIP, facilitating independence, is based on the common health care concern that seniors’ well-being is strongly impacted by their level of independence. Independence is pursued in an attempt to avoid outsized reliance on forces external to the home and to allow occupants to live on their own for as long as they desire. Design choices can be used to minimize the impact of potential changes in ability, increase stability (both mentally and physically), and promote overall independence.
Decisions that architects make to facilitate independence can be roughly broken down into two categories: that which can be controlled and that which is merely supported. Independence relies upon and supports other principles of AIP. Accessibility, for example, promotes independence by allowing for freedom of movement and ease of use, effectively minimizing the occurrence of obstacles and integrating a high tolerance for error. Lessening home challenges and increasing the relevance of design elements is also a primary goal of adaptability. Allowing the user to adapt the space to suit their needs gives them the ability to make necessary changes simply and on their own schedule. This gives them long-term financial and timing independence. It is important to note that when a designer is facilitating independence, the ease of maintaining, repairing, and/or replacing pieces of a home should be given high priority.
Independence is benefited by promoting an occupant's ability to problem solve on their own to maintain their quality of life. Self-sufficiency through energy generation, water management, growing one's own food, and reducing long-term financial burdens can contribute heavily not only to a client’s security and stability but also to lessening the degree of their reliance on factors external to their home. Independence can be facilitated by every design choice. Choices within an architect’s direct control that facilitate independence include those that are physically supportive or accommodating such as balance elements and raised outlets. These choices directly impact the client’s experience of each function and focus on meeting changes in physical ability. Independence is even further supported by those design choices that attempt to influence habits, health, and other factors less overtly facilitated and impacted by design, including the purposeful dispersion of functions throughout the typical family home, which incentivizes mobility and socialization. Similarly, environmental and system control programs are useful in encouraging individual consumption awareness and maintaining a consistent and suitable climate throughout the home. These opportunities for personalization liberate homeowners by integrating their capability for choice into their homes.
Independence is a wide-spanning category of AIP principles which if pursued, can maintain, and even improve, our quality of life as we age and as our abilities change. Considering the occupant’s independence can have an incredible impact on the long-term relevance of a home and is crucial to successful Aging in Place.
Adaptability
Adaptability is a challenging principle to execute practically, but it is imperative that a range of current and future needs are considered regularly throughout the design process. The goal of this category of AIP principles is to promote occupant sufficiency through readily-available options. While this may initially seem involved, it can be very straightforward in application. One such example integral to AIP is the livable first floor, or more explicitly: single floor accessible living functions, which include a sleeping space, storage space, kitchen, bathroom, and living space. Designing a two-story residential home to have an accessible, full first-floor bath is often done to allow for a later-in-life single-story transition, and is a quintessential consideration during the AIP design process. This consideration can save homeowners future renovation costs and expand future choices in how they are able to live and how long they live in their home.
Adaptability is dependent on an awareness of current and future needs. In investigating necessary factors to consider when designing for adaptability, architects and clients alike explore important age and ability-related challenges. Flexibility of function opens up possibilities for addressing life’s challenges with one’s home for support. Malleable or consciously adaptable design choices allow the home to maintain its relevance. A residence with such efficient design choices can give homeowners financial and mobility-driven flexibility, and allow for adjustments to be made as needed. Designing with foresight can create a home that has rooms with easily adjustable functions such as an office convertible to a bedroom, or living spaces with moveable “walls” that redefine the space for different uses. We are constantly aging, changing, adapting, and re-prioritizing. Having our homes provide support for that consistent fluctuation can only benefit us. Adaptability also allows the home to change hands easily and gives the occupants peace of mind in knowing that there are preparations in place in their residence to support them in the future.
Environmental Integration
Environmental integration is a key category of AIP design principles as it bolsters independence and self-reliance by working in harmony with the environment within which the home resides. As complex as it is to create a home that is self-reliant, success is ultimately determined largely by context and even a small reduction in reliance on external factors or active systems can have a huge impact. For example, reducing the need for AC or heating through passive design strategies decreases energy usage and allows the home to capture heat from sunlight or cool off through simple ventilation systems. Homes whose designs fail to identify and integrate local natural and social processes cannot adequately support AIP. That is not to say that new home construction needs to immediately prioritize net-zero efforts over all else. The interdisciplinary and subjective nature inherent to architecture is also inherent to AIP. Consequently, every design for a new home or modification of an existing home needs to be carefully considered for the environmental and social implications of decisions made and unmade and designers need to work with their clients to evaluate their priorities in conjunction with their long term needs.
Examples of these efforts can be as complex as incorporating a solar array (to provide energy independence) or merely sheltering an outdoor path to provide a level of weather protection throughout the journey between the home and the world around it. Each of these has reverberations and benefits beyond their primary function such as enabling access to electricity during an emergency or increasing occupiable outdoor space and reducing weather-related falls. Environmental integration is tied deeply to the notion that the more seamless the integration of the home into its environment, the more useful and accommodating the home will be. Environmentally conscious efforts can not only offer occupants savings but, done properly, can incentivize positive changes in habits and make it easier for occupants to find comfort in their residence.
Ultimately, Aging in Place is a useful lens with which to evaluate the success and long-term viability of a residence and I will be continuing to build upon these foundational ideas as I explore individual AIP principles over the coming year. These posts will have examples of precedent projects as well as quotes and illustrations which highlight the significance of each of the featured principles. You can read all of the current Aging In Place Principles posts here.
Citations
“The US Population Is Aging.” Urban Institute, 3 Apr. 2015, https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/program-retirement-policy/projects/data-warehouse/what-future-holds/us-population-aging.
US Census Bureau Public Information Office. “Nearly 1 in 5 People Have a Disability in the U.S., Census Bureau Reports - Miscellaneous - Newsroom - U.S. Census Bureau.” United States Census Bureau, 19 May 2016, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-134.html.
Okoro CA, Hollis ND, Cyrus AC, Griffin-Blake S. Prevalence of Disabilities and Health Care Access by Disability Status and Type Among Adults — United States, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2018;67:882–887. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6732a3
Keep an eye out for my next post on Sunday, December 5th at 10 am EST.