Environments for Aging - Spring 2022 - 14

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Each housing unit has its own palette
of four colors, which were derived
from the community's landscape plan
and are used to help make spaces
recognizable to residents.
workshop, and pop-up boutique. In the summer
months, the corridor can be opened to the
urban square, where residents might gather for
a coffee, exercise, or organized activities such as
concerts and food events with residents as well
as visitors from the community. " It's very important
to mix people to create a feel of everyday
life, " says Ritzmann.
From the square, the outdoor space moves
from an urban feel to a more country-like one
with a looping path that runs beside themed
landscaped areas that offer varied experiences
and a means of orientation and identity. " A very
important part of the concept is creating recognizable
places because people with dementia
often lose their short-term memory, " Ritzmann
says. For example, outdoor areas have names
like " water garden, " " cultivation, " and " the
manor, " with each featuring related elements
like a shallow pond, greenhouse, and gazebo,
respectively.
The residences are organized into 17 communal
housing units with eight residents in each
(for a total of 136) and 22 high-care dementia
units, which are located on the upper levels
and separated from the community activity
areas. Housing units are arranged in groups of
four, with a shared exterior entrance defined
through a color system derived from the different
parts of the landscape plan. " We tried to
find a palette of colors that relates to the outdoor
areas, " Ritzmann says.
Inside, each resident has a private en suite
bedroom that surrounds a large, open common
area, which includes a kitchen, eating area, living
room, and accessible outdoor area. In lieu
of corridors and dead-end hallways, the space
is designed as an uninterrupted circle with the
kitchen in the center and pop-out structures
along the surrounding walls to create niches
for furniture and handrails. " We tried to make
these kind of loops that residents can wander
around, " Ritzmann says.
While COVID has made it difficult to test
the pilot project fully, Carpe Diem already
has inspired similar villages in Norway, Ritzmann
says. Adds Schei, " Taking into account
the growth that is coming in dementia care
[throughout the country], we will look at
whether this is the way we will build in the
future. " -Joann Plockova, freelance writer
BUILDING A GREEN CONNECTION IN VERMONT
footprint through a solar array
that benefits three of its Vermont
communities: Equinox Terrace in
Manchester; Woodstock Terraces
in Woodstock; and Valley Terrace
in White River Junction. Kate
Heaton, owner of Terrace Communities,
says she began looking
to switch to solar in 2018 as a way
to align with the organization's
values and save money while
helping the environment.
Working with Norwich Solar
Terrace Communities solar farm
F
OR MORE THAN a year now, Terrace Communities
for Assisted Living & Memory Care
in Vermont has been reducing its carbon
Technologies Inc. (White River
Junction, Vt.), Heaton says the
project team originally considered
constructing solar panels on the buildings
at the communities before deciding to invest
in an off-campus solar array that would benefit
multiple locations without requiring construction
or building alteration. Kevin Davis,
vice president at Norwich Solar Technologies,
which built the 2,200-solar panel array, says
the company leased land near Springfield, Vt.,
for the project. " Because the community isn't
directly connected to the solar farm, the utility
takes the credits that are generated from the
solar project as measured by the electric meter
there and allocates those credits to the customer's
electric bill, " he says.
The solar project saved the three locations
more than $12,000 in 2020, as well as produced
enough renewable energy to cut back 638 metric
tons of carbon dioxide produced by the
burning of fossil fuels, Heaton says. " In the big
picture, we all want to be good citizens, and we
believe this is a wonderful way to show our values, "
she says.-Anne DiNardo, executive editor
14 | spring 2022
efamagazine.com
© INGER MARIE GRINI (CARPE DIEM); AJAH C TIER (SOLAR)
http://www.efamagazine.com
Environments for Aging - Spring 2022

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