Environments for Aging - Summer 2020 - 10

BULLETIN

BULLETIN
Edited by Anne DiNardo

Post-pandemic strategies
for senior living design
hile the COVID-19 pandemic will
have a lasting impact on communities, industries, and entire
nations, the older adult population is among
the most at risk when it comes to health and
safety. Insights gained from the spread of
the coronavirus in senior living communities
will shape how these spaces are designed
for years-and generations-to come.
Recently, senior living operators and
designers have shifted away from the institutionalized design practices of the
past to approaches that are more reminiscent of home and focused on fostering
community, connection, and mental and
emotional well-being. However, new design
challenges have arrived, as highlighted by
the recent spread of COVID-19 in senior
living communities.
Thoughtful and intentional design can
help mitigate the spread of germs, but
operators and designers would be remiss
to simply return to their healthcare-oriented
design practices of yesterday. Instead, the
future of design in older adult communities
must limit the spread of germs and foster
personal connections.
These four design strategies will be key in
helping operators and designers meet both
of these needs:

Compartmentalization

Reducing the number of
interactions people have
with potential germ sources
is key to reducing the spread of diseases.
The capability for compartmentalization, or
temporarily breaking down a larger building
into self-sustaining smaller communities,
will be instrumental to the future of senior

EFAmagazine.com * Summer 2020

living design and can take many shapes,
including:
Designing in small house capabilities-
Just as older adult communities often
have smoke compartments to increase
safety, so too could they break the community itself into smaller living compartments. This could be done, for example,
by closing down some larger common
areas and keeping residents in their wing
or on their floor temporarily to minimize
potential contamination from other residents and staff.
Designing around a common node-
Larger assisted living and memory
support communities could be designed
as a cluster of smaller households that
share common amenity areas with smaller
groups of people. This can allow for staff
and resource flexibility in an emergency
situation, while maintaining the benefit of
having fewer individuals in contact with
the separate households.
Considering MEP and HVAC-Zonal
isolation in HVAC systems can ensure
that residents and employees are not
only isolated from contact spreading and
physical cross-contamination but also
through droplet and particulate exposure
in the air. Touchless plumbing and electrical fixtures can further reduce the spread
of diseases by limiting the number of
surfaces for people to touch.
Small house model-The small house
model itself may see an increase in
popularity post-COVID-19 because it
directly mimics the look and feel of home
while also limiting the number of staff and
residents in a shared space. This model
typically contains 10-12 suites that can

be broken into smaller neighborhoods.
Meals can be shared in smaller spaces
and airflow can be easily broken into zones
covering individual corridors.

Reducing entry
points

Unit design

Limiting the number of outside sources who enter the
community can also help reduce exposure
to germs. Several design considerations
could eliminate or reduce otherwise regular entry into older adult communities by
mail carriers; package handlers; food and
supply delivery drivers; and third-party
staffing sources for salons, fitness areas,
and flexible exam rooms.
For example, locating all outside
service-related spaces served by thirdparty operators in one area, accessed
from a single entry, significantly reduces
outside source interaction with the community. Likewise, creating a receiving
room with refrigeration and storage on
the perimeter of the building allows for
a landing zone for food and bulk goods
deliveries prior to further distribution within
the building. And, finally, moving the mail
room to an exterior wall and incorporating
rear-loading mailboxes can further reduce
exposure to outside sources.

Just like moving delivery access to an exterior wall of the
building can help prevent the
spread of infection, so can moving certain
service-related access to the exterior wall
of each living space. Design options include locating trash in a cabinet adjacent
to a corridor wall that staff could access
from the hall. Lockable medicine storage
and unit plumbing shutoff valves also
could be in this area to allow emergency
access while limiting the number of staff
members entering a suite.

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Environments for Aging - Summer 2020

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