ADVERTISEMENT Q&A with Melissa Keeney Director of Senior Living Spellman Brady & Company What's one critical question your team always asks clients in initial project meetings? Why? We like to understand what makes a community distinctive from their competition in the area. We listen to the owner and residents and discuss the project expectations and goals. Our passionate and talented design team looks for multiple solutions to meet the project needs. Clients often have a clear idea of what they do not like, but need to be guided to vision what spaces may become. Our goal is to implement owner and resident feedback into our design solutions so it feels natural within the architecture and interior design. How do you involve residents to ensure their voices are heard in the design process? We believe engaging residents early in the design process helps them feel invested in the change and know their feedback is embraced by our team. We define this as the Discovery Process. During this phase we may give design surveys to help us define the design intent. We work with resident committee members to identify their daily functional needs. We also provide furniture samples for residents to test the feel, function and fit. Every project has different needs regarding how much resident involvement is required. We work with owners to identify when they want to engage their residents and family members to determine the best way to collect the feedback. How will the design of those spaces change to meet the demands of today's senior consumers? Baby boomers are moving into senior living communities while they can still enjoy active retirement. Communities are being challenged to make their homes and services marketable to younger demographics and to provide experiences that support socialization that keeps seniors engaged as they age. We are seeing an increasing demand for hospitality- inspired environments and active wellness amenities and services. Communities that are integrated with local developments, support multi-generational living and incorporate retail shops with restaurants are successfully providing more choices and services to their active aging boomers, while simultaneously promoting community engagement. Tell us something surprising about your company that people may not know. Stan Spellman, our vice president, often says, "You must have fun doing what you're doing or it's not worth doing." Our leadership team works to promote a positive culture in our office. Their efforts have resulted in building a team that is very dedicated to creating meaningful environments. We are all very supportive of each other and work as a team to meet deadlines and make sure there is a balanced work load among the teams. Our office culture encourages our staff to live vibrant lives outside of the workplace and enables us to put family first. www.spellmanbrady.com The Residences at Thomas Circle, main lobby - Washington, D.C. Photo: Alise O'Brienhttp://www.spellmanbrady.com http://www.spellmanbrady.com