Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Publication

The Evolution of Senior Living Design: Storytelling in Space

Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
For centuries, architecture has contributed to sharing narratives across the world that encompass human experience, history, and connection within physical spaces. These narratives are metaphors for life itself, encapsulating memories and leaving behind lasting legacies. Regrettably, the field of senior care in the United States has failed to prioritize fundamental human values of sympathy, connection, dignity, and happiness. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the re-evaluation of late stage and end-of-life care systems in the United States is more imperative than ever. The U.S. has put the issue of senior living facilities on the back burner for decades. Consequently, private equity firms have been buying up struggling nursing homes, resulting in worsening conditions and increased mortality (The White House, 2022). As the 85-and-over population continues to grow each year, the necessity for these care systems to evolve has increased substantially. Research tells us that critical components of positive senior care experiences include homelike environments, sympathetic care, spatial autonomy, companionship, and purpose beyond oneself. This thesis proposes using storytelling as the leading component in the design of an architecture that centers on companionship, transmission of legacy, quality of life, happiness, and human experience.
Type
thesis
Date
2024-05
Publisher
License
Attribution 4.0 International
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Embargo Lift Date
Publisher Version
Embedded videos
Collections
Related Item(s)