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
| Sep 16, 2010
Gehry’s Santa Monica Place gets a wave of changes
Omniplan, in association with Jerde Partnership, created an updated design for Santa Monica Place, a shopping mall designed by Frank Gehry in 1980.
| Sep 16, 2010
Green recreation/wellness center targets physical, environmental health
The 151,000-sf recreation and wellness center at California State University’s Sacramento campus, called the WELL (for “wellness, education, leisure, lifestyle”), has a fitness center, café, indoor track, gymnasium, racquetball courts, educational and counseling space, the largest rock climbing wall in the CSU system.
| Sep 13, 2010
Community college police, parking structure targets LEED Platinum
The San Diego Community College District's $1.555 billion construction program continues with groundbreaking for a 6,000-sf police substation and an 828-space, four-story parking structure at San Diego Miramar College.
| Sep 13, 2010
Campus housing fosters community connection
A 600,000-sf complex on the University of Washington's Seattle campus will include four residence halls for 1,650 students and a 100-seat cafe, 8,000-sf grocery store, and conference center with 200-seat auditorium for both student and community use.
| Sep 13, 2010
Second Time Around
A Building Team preserves the historic facade of a Broadway theater en route to creating the first green playhouse on the Great White Way.
| Sep 13, 2010
Palos Community Hospital plans upgrades, expansion
A laboratory, pharmacy, critical care unit, perioperative services, and 192 new patient beds are part of Palos (Ill.) Community Hospital's 617,500-sf expansion and renovation.
| Sep 13, 2010
China's largest single-phase hospital planned for Shanghai
RTKL's Los Angles office is designing the Shanghai Changzheng New Pudong Hospital, which will be the largest new hospital built in China in a single phase.
| Sep 13, 2010
Richmond living/learning complex targets LEED Silver
The 162,000-sf living/learning complex includes a residence hall with 122 units for 459 students with a study center on the ground level and communal and study spaces on each of the residential levels. The project is targeting LEED Silver.