HONORABLE MENTION – 2021 EFA Design Showcase
The Center for Resilient Living (CRL) will define the next generation of care for adults living with dementia. Since 1992, LiveWell has focused exclusively on supporting individuals at all stages of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The campus offers residential care and community services for people living with dementia and their families. To create an innovative setting focused on living well rather than the provision of care, multi-faceted updates include the addition of new community resource spaces highlighted by the CRL.
The CRL enhances LiveWell’s adult day programming by providing purpose-built spaces to explore interests and pursue passions through classes, workshops, arts, cultural, social and wellness opportunities. In addition to serving current LiveWell residents, the CRL extends its services to people from the surrounding community. The CRL also provides a platform for LiveWell’s monthly memory cafés, educational seminars, and other initiatives to drive positive change through research, thought leadership and education.
Destination spaces include a café, demonstration/test kitchen, greenhouse, classrooms, visual arts room, exercise equipment studio and yoga/movement studio, wellness treatment rooms, a theater, media room/learning lab, four seasons room and dining terrace. Interstitial spaces add variety and interest along the way. For example, the sweeping corridor widens at several locations to provide space for learning kiosks, impromptu activities, and other spontaneous interactions.
The building plan is organized around a curving central corridor that promotes transparency between the program spaces and interstitial zones. As a new front façade to the LiveWell campus, the CRL captures outdoor space to organically form enclosed courtyards. Each is intentionally designed with specific definition and meaning related to the adjacent interior spaces. Glassy corridor links allow participants to see what is going on both inside and outdoors—inviting them to naturally explore and participate. Stone and wood materials wrap from the exterior façade to the interior in several locations, encouraging users to touch, feel, and interact with the architecture.
Persons living with dementia were viewed as equal partners in decision-making. Programming goals and design concepts were evaluated within the context of how people living with dementia—the true experts—defined priorities during focus groups and the design charrette. The design result is an open and engaging collection of distinct venues, each specially imagined for a unique function that creates opportunities for authentic interactions and meaningful experiences.
Project category: Unbuilt/conceptual
Chief administrator: Michael Smith, president and CEO
Firm: RLPS Architects, www.rlps.com; RLPS Interiors, www.rlpsinteriors.com
Design team: RLPS (architect and interior designer); OnePoint Partners (project manager); Milone and MacBroom (civil engineer); Reese Hackman (MEP and lighting engineer); Snell Engineering (structural engineer); SCOPOS Hospitality Group (food service consultant)
Resident/client capacity: 125+
Total building area (sq. ft.): 20,000
Construction cost/sq. ft.: $265
Total construction cost (excluding land): $5.3 million
Completion: February 2022
