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.
Related Stories
| May 18, 2011
Lab personnel find comfort in former Winchester gun factory
The former Winchester Repeating Arms Factory in New Haven, Conn., is the new home of PepsiCo’s Biology Innovation Research Laboratory.
| May 18, 2011
Addition provides new school for pre-K and special-needs kids outside Chicago
Perkins+Will, Chicago, designed the Early Learning Center, a $9 million, 37,000-sf addition to Barrington Middle School in Barrington, Ill., to create an easily accessible and safe learning environment for pre-kindergarten and special-needs students.
| May 18, 2011
Raphael Viñoly’s serpentine-shaped building snakes up San Francisco hillside
The hillside location for the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine building at the University of California, San Francisco, presented a challenge to the Building Team of Raphael Viñoly, SmithGroup, DPR Construction, and Forell/Elsesser Engineers. The 660-foot-long serpentine-shaped building sits on a structural framework 40 to 70 feet off the ground to accommodate the hillside’s steep 60-degree slope.
| May 18, 2011
New center provides home to medical specialties
Construction has begun on the 150,000-sf Medical Arts Pavilion at the University Medical Center in Princeton, N.J.
| May 18, 2011
Improvements add to Detroit convention center’s appeal
Interior and exterior renovations and updates will make the Detroit Cobo Center more appealing to conventioneers. A new 40,000-sf ballroom will take advantage of the center’s riverfront location, with views of the river and downtown.
| May 18, 2011
One of Delaware’s largest high schools seeks LEED for Schools designation
The $82 million, 280,000-sf Dover (Del.) High School will have capacity for 1,800 students and feature a 900-seat theater, a 2,500-seat gymnasium, and a 5,000-seat football stadium.
| May 18, 2011
Carnegie Hall vaults into the 21st century with a $200 million renovation
Historic Carnegie Hall in New York City is in the midst of a major $200 million renovation that will bring the building up to contemporary standards, increase educational and backstage space, and target LEED Silver.
| May 17, 2011
Redesigning, redefining the grocery shopping experience
The traditional 40,000- to 60,000-sf grocery store is disappearing and much of the change is happening in the city. Urban infill sites and mixed-use projects offer grocers a rare opportunity to repackage themselves into smaller, more efficient, and more convenient retail outlets. And the AEC community will have a hand in developing how these facilities will look and operate.
