Perkins Eastman's report on senior housing signals a changing market

Pittsburgh, PA — Top international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to announce that the Perkins Eastman Research Collaborative recently completed the “Design for Aging Review 10 Insights and Innovations: The State of Senior Housing” study for the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The results of the comprehensive study reflect the changing demands and emerging concepts that are re-shaping today’s senior living industry. The 250-page DFAR10 Insights Study is available on the AIA Design for Aging website www.aia.org/dfa.

Principal-in-Charge of the project Stefani Danes AIA, LEED AP says, “The report is a resource for professionals by providing information that can be used for evidence-based design. It addresses AIA Design for Aging’s goals of fostering design innovation and disseminating knowledge to enhance the built environment and quality of life for older adults.”

More than 90 leading-edge senior living projects from around the country, as well as several international projects, were evaluated to identify commonalities that reflect larger-scale trends and unique features that challenge those trends. Topics include:

• The growing prevalence of the household model
• The fact that more projects are offering a contemporary/modern feel
• Subtle innovations that may be signaling growing industry trends
• The recognition that more and more projects do not fit the traditional
• continuing care approach—suggesting a changing market perspective

Emily Chmielewski of the Perkins Eastman Research Collaborative, who led the research on the project, notes “The DFAR10 Insights Study will help the design community raise the bar on the quality of design solutions provided to the senior living industry as a whole.”

Perkins Eastman received a grant from the AIA to conduct this study, with matching funds provided by Perkins Eastman. This study is the second consecutive design award competition cycle that the Perkins Eastman Research Collaborative was engaged to perform the data analysis.

About the Perkins Eastman Research Collaborative

The Perkins Eastman Research Collaborative assists clients and designers in creating better-built environments by pushing the boundaries of professional knowledge and improving architectural design through innovative practice-based research. Through active engagement in dialogue, reflection, and design demonstration, the collaborative supports the development and exchange of pioneering ideas by helping designers and clients become more knowledgeable by challenging assumptions and by testing ideas.

About Perkins Eastman

Perkins Eastman is among the top architecture and design firms in the world. The firm prides itself on inventive and compassionate design that enhances the quality of the human experience. Because of its depth and range, Perkins Eastman takes on assignments from niche buildings to complex projects that enrich whole communities. The firm’s practice areas include education, housing, healthcare, senior living, corporate interiors, cultural institutions, public sector facilities, retail, office buildings, and urban design. In 2010, Perkins Eastman announced it would merge with Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K), significantly strengthening both practices with an international total of nearly 600 employees. Perkins Eastman provides award- winning design through its domestic offices in New York, NY; Boston, MA; Arlington, VA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Oakland, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Stamford, CT; and internationally in Dubai, UAE; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; and Toronto, Canada.