The Environments for Aging Conference (Baltimore, April 18-21) is right around the corner, and this year, I’m moderating a general session on the top trends in senior living design, based on a survey we conducted in February. The survey results are in—and they were interesting for a couple of reasons.
Eric McRoberts, partner at RLPS Architects (Lancaster, Pa.), is one of the panelists for the session, and his firm identified 10 big trends—and the issues surrounding them—that are important to consider for the design of senior living environments today. We shared that list with our readership and asked them to vote for the trends that are top of mind:
- Assisted living (a residential replacement for skilled care?)
- New dining models (more choice and flexibility, demand for higher quality)
- Short-term rehab (rehab-specific environments that provide both inpatient and outpatient services and add another revenue source)
- Wellness (a holistic approach to health, can drive marketing and mission)
- Memory care (memory care-specific environments versus residents living among the general population—the pros and cons of each)
- Universal design (aging in place versus moving residents through the continuum in a CCRC—the pros and cons of each)
- Downtown CCRCs (targeting baby boomers, with access to resources and the community at large)
- Renovations versus building new (determining the right model)
- New independent living models (hybrid homes and pocket neighborhoods, scaled for today's economy and targeting a younger audience)
- Small house models (residential models for universal design that can accommodate many levels of care, such as skilled care, acute care, memory care, rehab, assisted living, and hospice).
The top three, based on weighted averages, were (1) short-term rehab, (2) downtown CCRCs, and (3) renovations versus building new. Those issues will serve as the primary focus for our session during the conference, but it’s worth noting that the scores for all 10 of the issues were quite close. And many of them overlap; you can’t really talk about one without bringing up others.
I expect a very intelligent, thought-provoking discussion that goes beyond basic talking points and gets to the real challenges of implementing new concepts and overcoming obstacles. And that’s what we’ll continue to discuss, across these 10 trends and more, in the magazine and on the website as we move forward.
