For 20 years our focus has always been on enriching the way people live, work and play through architecture.
Avenues
Architecture for Living
April 2022
The design of retirement villages and aged care facilities has evolved over recent years. As we age we are looking for fresh adventures, new ways to enjoy life, and the opportunity to let our spirit thrive. As designers for senior living developments, we have noticed a number of trends including a focus on lifestyle, community, design, and environmental sustainability.
Retiring today is all about lifestyle. People are looking for not just a new lease on life but also an enhanced quality of life. They want to enjoy a range of facilities such as those for sports and movies, continue with their current activities, and expand into new pastimes.
Responding to this, we are often briefed to provide a resort-like environment that includes facilities such as a pool, gym, bowling green, theatre, café and bar, billiards room, library, hairdresser, and gardens.
Retirement villages now operate on a highly social scale, providing a strong sense of community and belonging.
Recently, some villages have also positioned themselves as part of the wider community, inviting “locals” in to use their facilities such as restaurant and bar, providing an authentic relationship with the neighbourhood.
Retirees today appreciate good architecture and interior design and are more demanding of well‑designed spaces. Buildings and their interior and exterior spaces need to be not only functional, warm, and safe, but also light, open, spacious, stimulating. Well-considered enriching spaces can make people feel younger and let the human spirit thrive.
As with all of the buildings we design, environmental sustainability is important for senior living buildings.
Focus must not only be placed on energy efficiency, but also passive design features such as orientation to the sun and wind, natural ventilation and the use of low VOC (volatile organic compound) materials to ensure healthy living environments. These things don’t cost any extra but can add greatly to the quality of life.
With New Zealand’s aging population and a focus on relishing retirement, both the design and facilities encompassed within senior living developments must continue to evolve to allow residents’ spirits to thrive!
