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Philippe Saad, AIA, LEED AP, principal, DiMella Shaffer (Boston)

Philippe Saad has spent his 15-year career in senior living pushing to break down stigmas toward senior living as well as raise awareness nationally of the need for housing where LGBTQ people are welcome and supported.

Most recently, his advocacy has been illustrated in the many projects he’s developed as well as his work outside the office, serving on several national and local boards. In 2018, he cofounded LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc., which is developing The Pryde, Boston’s first LGBTQ-friendly senior housing. Scheduled to open in summer 2023, the project is converting a former school into 74 units of LGBTQ-friendly affordable housing.

Another focus of his work is connecting people and blending communities into their larger environments.

For The Baldwin, an independent living community in Londonderry, N.H., that meant integrating senior housing within a greater planned development, with public-facing amenity spaces that create opportunities for residents and community members to interact.

He’s also a frequent speaker at industry events and a mentor at Boston Bridge, an affiliate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AgeLab.

As one of our 2021 Design Champions, Saad shared some insight on his career and the senior living design industry in this Q+A with Environments for Aging.

Environments for Aging: What role can this industry play in raising awareness of the need for LGBTQ-friendly senior housing?

Philippe Saad: For the past several years, the design community has been unified on the role that design plays in people’s well-being, including in senior living, healthcare, and workplace design. What we’ve failed to acknowledge, as much, is that design can be responsible for segregating people or it can have the power to bring people together.

What we found through our many public discussions with LGBTQ seniors over the years is that no one wants to live in an isolated community of only people like them, but rather in a diverse community where they’re respected and supported.

The design of The Pryde in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood focuses on welcoming the outside in through a community center, which further integrates residents with the larger community. This is achieved by carefully organizing spaces hierarchically from the most public to the most private and by providing spaces for all types of groups to gather.

The outcome is a set of varied and flexible community spaces throughout the building that contribute to the vibrancy of the community.

Why is connecting people important to the future of senior living design?

No matter what generation they are part of, people prefer to be connected to their community—some more than others. Before senior housing became a distinct category, seniors remained connected to their communities and families—they were the elders, the well-respected age groups that lived intergenerationally.

I don’t think the desire has changed much over the years. However, in our most recent history, seniors stopped having a choice because our society had determined that after retirement the voice of seniors should be de-amplified, and seniors were forced to retire from society.

As a result, they had to accept what was offered to them. The incoming generations of seniors have found ways through connected technology and their part-time contribution to the workplace to make their voices heard. As a result, they’re disrupting senior living design and challenging the status quo.

Senior living is market driven like other types of real estate; we’re seeing more and more seniors demanding to live in places where they can stay connected and integrated to the larger environment. I think this will play a major role in breaking down the stigma around senior living.

You believe that the design industry has a social commitment. Why is this important to you?

When I started graduate school at MIT, I anticipated practicing in the Middle East, helping low-income populations who inhabit old cities to have better living conditions. I was fascinated by old Arab cities and how tradition, religion, and culture shaped the urban environments.

I always saw architecture as a social tool in people’s lives. I think this is the reason I fell in love with the senior living sector. I find that my work with the aging population is in line with how I see architecture playing a role in society.

It fulfills my desire to contribute to society. My involvement in developing LGBTQ-friendly senior housing is one example of how I see the role of the architect in society.

What’s your vision for senior living in the future?

I’m an optimist, and I think that as humans we are destined to progress rather than conserve—what is left of our role as humans on this earth if we do not work towards progress? Overall, I think senior living is at a pivotal moment of change. It’s moving toward becoming more integrated with its surroundings and—if I may say—better valued.

It will all come down to removing the stigma around senior living. What I think distinguishes outstanding senior living projects from the rest is when we don’t settle for the “good enough for senior living” but rather make every aspect of senior living design lead with innovation and creativity beyond what’s happening in other market sectors.

I want to reach a point where multifamily design and hospitality are inspired by what we do in senior living.

Anne DiNardo is executive editor of Environments for Aging. She can be reached at anne.dinardo@emeraldx.com.