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
| Jan 21, 2011
Harlem facility combines social services with retail, office space
Harlem is one of the first neighborhoods in New York City to combine retail with assisted living. The six-story, 50,000-sf building provides assisted living for residents with disabilities and a nonprofit group offering services to minority groups, plus retail and office space.
| Jan 21, 2011
Nothing dinky about these residences for Golden Gophers
The Sydney Hall Student Apartments combines 125 student residences with 15,000 sf of retail space in the University of Minnesota’s historic Dinkytown neighborhood, in Minneapolis.
| Jan 21, 2011
Revamped hotel-turned-condominium building holds on to historic style
The historic 89,000-sf Hotel Stowell in Los Angeles was reincarnated as the El Dorado, a 65-unit loft condominium building with retail and restaurant space. Rockefeller Partners Architects, El Segundo, Calif., aimed to preserve the building’s Gothic-Art Nouveau combination style while updating it for modern living.
| Jan 21, 2011
Sustainable history center exhibits Fort Ticonderoga’s storied past
Fort Ticonderoga, in Ticonderoga, N.Y., along Lake Champlain, dates to 1755 and was the site of battles in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The new $20.8 million, 15,000-sf Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center pays homage to the French magasin du Roi (the King’s warehouse) at the fort.
| Jan 21, 2011
Library planned for modern media enthusiasts
The England Run Library, a new 30,000-sf glass, brick, and stone building, will soon house more than 100,000 books and DVDs. The Lukmire Partnership, Arlington, Va., designed the Stafford County, Va., library, the firm’s fourth for the Central Rappahannock Library System, to combine modern library-browsing trends with traditional library services.
| Jan 21, 2011
Virginia community college completes LEED Silver science building
The new 60,000-sf science building at John Tyler Community College in Midlothian, Va., just earned LEED Silver, the first facility in the Commonwealth’s community college system to earn this recognition. The facility, designed by Burt Hill with Gilbane Building Co. as construction manager, houses an entire floor of laboratory classrooms, plus a new library, student lounge, and bookstore.
| Jan 21, 2011
Upscale apartments offer residents a twist on modern history
The Goodwynn at Town: Brookhaven, a 433,300-sf residential and retail building in DeKalb County, Ga., combines a historic look with modern amenities. Atlanta-based project architect Niles Bolton Associates used contemporary materials in historic patterns and colors on the exterior, while concealing a six-level parking structure on the interior.
| Jan 21, 2011
Research center built for interdisciplinary cooperation
The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston, the first basic research institute for childhood neurological diseases, is a 13-story twisting tower in the center of the hospital campus.
| Jan 21, 2011
Music festival’s new home showcases scenic setting
Epstein Joslin Architects, Cambridge, Mass., designed the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, Mass., to showcase the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, as well at the site’s ocean views.
| Jan 21, 2011
GSA Recognizes the Best in Public Architecture
The U.S. General Services Administration recognized the best in public architecture and civilian federal workplaces at the 2010 GSA Design Awards in Washington, D.C. This year's 11 award winners showcase the federal government's commitment to cutting-edge architectural design and its focus on sustainability.
