As the design of senior living environments continues to evolve, the EFA Design Showcase serves as a resource to help identify the trends defining that evolution. Examples of key solutions being delivered today, include spaces that support greater community connection and multigenerational opportunities, thoughtful integration of projects within their sites and geographic locations, ties to outdoor spaces created in purposeful and meaningful ways, and the blurring of lines between care levels while also delivering curated solutions for unique resident types.
The Design Showcase winners, specifically, serve as examples of how such trends are being delivered successfully. To better understand the big picture that’s inspiring change as well as the unique ways project teams are responding to current demands, EFA hosted a webinar March 31 with the design leads from the two Award of Merit and four Honorable Mention projects.
The panel included Amy Carpenter, principal at SFCS Architects, representing The Highlands at Wyomissing – Personal Care Building in Wyomissing, Pa.; David Fik, president of Lantz-Boggio Architects and Interior Designers, representing The Ridge Pinehurst in Lakewood, Colo.; Nicole Hill, senior project manager at Faulkner Design Group, representing The Spires at Berry College in Rome, Ga.; Dustin Julius, project designer at RLPS Architects, representing LiveWell Center for Resilient Living in Plantsville, Conn.; Jerry Walleck, principal, board director at Perkins Eastman, representing Senior Resource Group, Maravilla at The Domain in Austin, Texas; and Ray Yancey, director of senior living at LRS Architects, representing The Springs at Lake Oswego in Lake Oswego, Ore. EFA editor-in-Chief Jennifer Kovacs Silvis served as moderator for the discussion.
Following, find an excerpt from the webinar that’s been edited and condensed for space. And enjoy the full webinar by visiting efamagazine.com/2021-showcase-webinar.
The Ridge Pinehurst and mixed-use
Jennifer Kovacs Silvis: One of the most welcome trends to emerge in the Showcase this year is the idea of designing spaces that encourage greater community connection and support multigenerational opportunities for residents. We’ve heard a lot about this for several years now, but I would say this is the first Showcase where I’ve seen numerous projects deliver on the concept.
David, what’s driving this vision to become reality, and how did that look for you on The Ridge Pinehurst?
David Fik: This is something that Lantz-Boggio has been talking about for years, and the industry has been talking about for years, as well, simply because I think that the current generation of people who are moving into these communities have looked at their parents and said, “You know what? I don’t want to be isolated and out behind the white picket fence and behind the guard house.” They want to be integrated with the community. And as much as we’re attempting to do that, it’s just now starting to blossom.
In [The Ridge Pinehurst], there will eventually be a mixed-use building where the ground floor has retail. But for starters, in Phase 1, there’s a large building that contains an area where the outside community can come in, and with a membership that’s age restricted, they’re able to utilize this [health and wellness] club. So the residents here actually get to use the space, but they’re driving the community to come in … which ideally will act as marketing, so that people who come in and see the community, they will want to actually stay there then.
Hospitality influences at Maravilla at The Domain
Silvis: Jerry, Maravilla at The Domain is located in a vibrant, walkable, urban community … tell us about some of the solutions you introduced to achieve this vision successfully.
Jerry Walleck: I would echo a lot of things that David just said. We’ve been trying to do these for a while, and what’s interesting right now is we have four current projects in our office that are very similar to this, where they’re looking at integrating senior living in lifestyle centers or shopping centers. And The Domain is a planned community northwest of Austin in which there are several developers in mixed use that have developed shopping, entertainment, and restaurants.
When we talk about living a vibrant lifestyle for the active seniors who live [at Maravilla at The Domain], there’s nothing more vibrant than being integrated into a greater community. You don’t have to create anything, because it’s really at your doorstep. The inspiration here was to be a resort-style hospitality center. And when we talk about hospitality, it’s not just about hospitality in the aesthetic, but it’s hospitality in the service, too. … You can have a concierge schedule a reservation for you at dinner. They will get you in a car. They will drive you over there. They will pick you up and they’ll bring you back to the bar here for a happy hour.
The Spires at Berry College intergenerational edge
Silvis: Nicole, we’re going to go in a bit of a different direction with your project, The Spires at Berry College. This is a continuing care retirement community that’s built on a college campus. So, the type of integration and engagement that inspired your project was really how to forge connections between the residents and students. Tell us a little bit about how that was achieved.
Nicole Hill: Berry College has the largest contiguous college campus in the United States, spanning 27,000 acres. However, The Spires’ site was selected to sit just one-third of a mile away from the college, so that it would connect the community and the campus by a simple walking trail. This allowed easy access to the campus for the residents, where they could attend school functions or events, sporting events, or even enroll in a few courses. Likewise, Berry College has a life works program, where students can work on campus to gain personal and professional development experiences. The Spires at Berry College, from its inception, was always designed to partake in that program.
And then on top of that, we were able, from an interior design standpoint, to provide several areas within the community that support those intergenerational experiences outside of the life works school program. So, we have a club room that’s outfitted with game tables and a shuffleboard table. We have a large multipurpose room designed for lectures and speeches, community events, and musical performances. And then these relationships between resident and student continue to grow through shared activities.
LiveWell Center for Resilient Living and purpose-driven design
Silvis: And an idea that we’ve heard brought up a couple of times so far is when working to address feelings of isolation and supporting interactions between multiple generations, a piece of that is ensuring you’re creating spaces that invite the community in, encourage family visits, and so on.
Dustin, I know this is something you considered heavily on the LiveWell project. Tell us a little bit about how your design supports that goal.
Dustin Julius: The story of LiveWell Center for Resilient Living (CRL) really goes back to a design philosophy that emerged early in the planning process, and that’s the idea of designing with—not just for—those who are living with cognitive impairment. And so, by partnering with community residents who were living with dementia as well as their family members, this campus reinvention, including the CRL, was informed.
Throughout the planning process, the entire team was challenged to consistently listen to and partner with these individuals. The CRL reinvents LiveWell’s adult day care programming, with purpose-built spaces where residents can explore their interests and pursue their passions. And in addition to serving residents, the CRL extends beyond their campus, giving opportunities to people from the surrounding community.
From a design perspective, the existing courtyards have been reimagined with intergenerational play areas, outdoor dining opportunities, and event spaces. These areas help foster an environment where loved ones don’t merely come to visit, but they’re coming to engage in meaningful activities, educational events, and advancement program opportunities.
The Springs at Lake Oswego site integration
Silvis: Now, transitioning to our next trend, this is the thoughtful integration of projects within their sites and geographic locations via architecture and interior solutions. Ray, The Springs at Lake Oswego is shaped by the site and location in so many ways. It’s literally built into the hillside. How did you approach the design process for this extreme site integration, and what was ultimately delivered there?
Ray Yancey: It was an infill site, straddling an office district and a residential district. There was a 30-foot grade change from the front to the back of the site. The height was restricted. [These are] things that a lot of projects deal with, but on this project the design team embraced them and used them to leverage solutions that really enhanced the project, for both the surrounding community as well as the residents within the community itself.
Stitching together the two districts was a component that we really focused on to help make this place feel like home. In doing that, we tried to take elements from both districts and use them together, using masonry and horizontal siding, bay windows, and metal and wood accents. It created this well-scaled project.
Shaping of the building was another component. We chamfered the corners both to pull back from the site corners so we could activate those, but also to reduce the scale of the building. We didn’t want this to feel like a large block building. We wanted it to be softened on the edges and allow us to have some opportunities for those edges to be activated. One of those is a corner component where the main dining room is for the community. [Residents] can spill out onto that directly. There’s a fire pit. There’s a main water feature, which really forms a gateway for the district. … And then the slope of the site afforded us to build the parking into the hillside and preserve landscaping.
The Spires at Berry College nods to nature
Silvis: And, Nicole, you also used your surroundings for inspiration throughout your project. Tell us how the Berry College campus informed the design.
Hill: The signature of Berry College architecture are spires. These spires were incorporated onto The Spires at Berry College exterior architecture, and also provide the community’s namesake. A lot of the interior art was also inspired by various external surroundings. We sourced real canoes, had them hand painted and installed in the casual dining room, as a nod to activities available on Eagle Lake. We incorporated a feather sculptural art installation, because there’s a pair of bald eagles that nest every season on campus and can be seen flying over Eagle Lake from the community. We also had access to Berry College licensed photography, so we used identifiable Berry College building or architectural features in the photography, as wayfinding in our elevator lobbies. We incorporated a gallery wall at the corridor connection between the healthcare building and the independent living building.
The Highlands at Wyomissing – Personal Care Building connects to outdoors
Silvis: Next, we’re going to dive into establishing true connections to nature and outdoor spaces that we’ve been discussing. It’s not just providing views of natural surroundings or a few courtyards, but taking that a step further to ensure that the design allows residents to freely access the site and easily move between the indoors and outdoors, and for those spaces to be meaningful and purposeful for residents.
Now, Amy, this was a big guiding principle on The Highlands at Wyomissing project. Tell us what drove this approach, and how you were able to deliver on that.
Amy Carpenter: The owner and the design team understood how important it is to provide a connection to nature, not only through views to the outside but allowing residents easy access to a meaningful outdoor experience. Through the building renovation, we created four courtyards for the residents. All of them have multiple points of access to encourage residents to go outside, and maybe change up their route—say, when walking to the dining room—to get a little fresh air when they’re walking.
And when we do get the residents outside, we also wanted to create a variety of experiences to encourage them to come out more often and to stay out longer. To that end, we have porches with comfy furniture and deep overhangs to provide shade and to allow residents to sit outside even when it’s raining. We have a variety of water features, including koi ponds, for visual and auditory interest. There’s landscape lighting that provides visual interest at night, plants that were selected for color and texture and scent, and of course there are gardening areas, too.
But there are two features of the lower-level courtyard garden that are my favorites. First is the wide-format, double-sided, see-through fireplace. I think it provides a nice nighttime gathering spot and a very dramatic focal point in the courtyard. And just beyond the fireplace, there’s this other area that we call the tiki bar. It’s an outdoor kitchen with a gas grill, refrigerators, an ice maker, and bar equipment for outdoor cocktails. This space also backs up to the kitchen, so it doubles as another seasonal food venue, providing variety and more fun for the residents.
Outdoor programming at The Springs at Lake Oswego
Silvis: Now, Ray, you really considered the ways that outdoor spaces would be used. What advice do you have in terms of programming outdoor areas, and some examples that you can share with the audience?
Yancey: On this project we created a substantial roof terrace, which is on the fourth level and connects to the fifth level, which is an independent living apartment level. We anchored it with a wine bar, which is indoors, that spills out to a covered area. … We’ve provided a number of venues that energize and provide interest, starting with the wine bar. But then we have a large-format chess set that’s there and visible from the wine bar, and there’s seating around that so people can either be participating or just watching. Then we have an 18-hole putting green. We have a bocce court. There’s a raised planter for gardening. One unique thing about that is we have a dining table in [the gardening space], so that you can have an al fresco dining experience. And then the other piece we have is the dog park. … So, just lots of different venues for people to engage in different ways throughout that entire roof terrace.
