Aegis Living Laurelhurst, Seattle
Aegis Living Laurelhurst is under construction in Seattle’s Laurelhurst neighborhood near the University of Washington (UW) campus.
Ankrom Moisan, the architects and interior designers for the project, took inspiration from the university’s architecture and the desire to connect residents with the community at large to drive planning and design strategies.
Slated to open in spring 2024, the six-story mixed-use building will feature 135 units for assisted living and memory care residents, a sky lounge, 1,300 square feet of commercial space, and an outdoor plaza open to the neighborhood.
Here, architect JP Emery, principal at Ankrom Moisan (Seattle), discusses the project team’s approach and designing to support residents’ desire for choice and variety.
How did the project’s location near the UW campus influence the design?
JP Emery (Image credit: Ankrom Moisan)
It is important to acknowledge the unique identity of the neighborhoods senior communities are in, as you tend to draw a large number of aging residents directly from that neighborhood.
The architectural style and interior spaces designed here reference the historic “collegiate gothic” features of the University of Washington such as limestone-clad three-pointed arched entrances on the ground floor. Interior design features reinforce this, as well, including relites accented with branched tracery millwork at the main entry.
What’s driving demand for senior living communities to be strategically located near academic institutions?
Retired seniors have the time and interest to reconnect with their alma mater and participate in a variety of cultural activities, including music, theater, sports, and even the classes that we associate with higher education.
Campuses and their surrounding neighborhoods also tend to be active and interesting places to live. Seniors and providers will continue to seek out these areas in the future.
What strategies did you use to bring residents and the neighborhood together?
The City of Seattle’s guidelines for the development of this site encourage commercial uses on the ground floor, which is intended to create active and lively street environments. To provide a high-quality environment for the residents, Aegis Living is dedicating its ground floor primarily to resident amenity spaces such as the dining room, activity room, and lobby.
Additionally, we’re locating a neighborhood-scale café at a prominent corner of the community that will be open to the public and creating an outdoor space with a playground for families in the neighborhood. We see this kind of shared public-private outdoor space as being an incredible benefit both to the neighborhood and residents of this community.
How does the community accommodate couples with differing care needs?
This community has a variety of options to enable that to occur. There are many small single-occupancy units, and, in some cases, couples will live in different units according to their ability but will be able to spend time together in shared community spaces.
Additionally, a transitional care unit area will balance the needs of residents/couples who are not yet experiencing profound needs but still would benefit from more than what is provided in traditional assisted living. Finally, there are some larger units that can target couples who wish to live together in a more traditional apartment setting.
Why was that important to accommodate here?
Besides the significant need for high acuity assisted living and memory care units throughout urban environments, this community will serve residents who may enter at one level of ability but who will need more care in the future.
Moving to a new home is a difficult and disruptive process and the negative impact of those transitions can be mitigated by allowing residents to stay in the same building and retain their connections to friends, family, and the neighborhood.
What trends do you anticipate shaping senior living design in the future?
Today’s seniors prize personalization, choice, and variety. Successful communities will give residents the freedom to live and socialize how they choose.
They also want to remain a vital part of society, not isolated from it. An enriching community in a vibrant neighborhood makes this possible.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Environments for Aging and can be reached at [email protected].
Environments for Aging is seeking in-the-works senior living projects that represents future trends in the senior living design sector for Design Outlook Q+As. If you’ve got a project to share, reach out to Editor-in-chief Anne DiNardo at [email protected] for more information.
