Dodd Kattman, AIA, Principal, MKM Architecture + Design (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
A founding principal at MKM Architecture + Design, where he’s been since 1987, Dodd Kattman has spent more than three decades working in the senior living sector.
Throughout his project work, Kattman leads research and evidence-based design strategies, site planning and strategic visioning, space programming and cost estimating, conceptual design, and schematic design.
But it’s his efforts to challenge the notion of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) through the introduction of alternative campus planning that balances resident care with contemporary independent living options and financial sustainability that stand apart.
Specifically, he’s designed more than a dozen “pocket neighborhoods” throughout the Midwest. This village-like model for pedestrian campuses champions independence and intergenerational living with clustered, cottage-scaled homes gathered around a shared pedestrian-scaled commons.
Leveraging evidence-based design around effective and inclusive placemaking, these developments prioritize social interaction and a sense of agency for older adults in ways conventional settings struggle to provide.
Kattman’s project work includes a new campus for Lutheran Life Villages in northeast Indiana that features the pocket neighborhood model: Piper Trail, a 12-acre neighborhood with walking and biking paths connecting 48 single-family homes to shopping, recreation, and surrounding neighborhoods.
These same design principles also informed the Apartment Homes at Keller Lake by Clark Retirement, a BHI community in southwest Michigan. The Clark campus and building design leverages similar design strategies that foster social engagement and happiness, executed in a mixed-use village motif. MKM was the design architect for that project, which opened in 2022.
Kattman is also focused on furthering innovation in senior living design through research initiatives and by participating in numerous speaking engagements.
As a former chair of the Design for Aging (DFA) Review Task Force, a biennial collaboration of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and LPC providers, he guided a national competition that promoted innovative design in senior care environments. He also served as co-chair of the AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community advisory group.
To read more about EFA‘s 2024 Design Champions, go here.
