Award-winning designs reflect 'spirit of being'. (2002 Order of Excellence Awards).INTRODUCTION This year, as our jurors for the Order of Excellence in Architecture & Design pondered the merits of 34 senior-living project entries, Jury Chairman Rob Volzer saw two significant trends emerge. First, living spaces for seniors are providing a richer design context for residents. Our industry's ubiquitous early-American aesthetics and Victorian-era design influences are giving way to a wider range of styles. As a result, they appear much more relevant to the Baby Boomer baby boomer also ba·by-boom·er n. A member of a baby-boom generation. Noun 1. baby boomer - a member of the baby boom generation in the 1950s; "they expanded the schools for a generation of baby boomers" boomer generation's lifestyle. Second, its clear that architects and interior designers have accepted the challenge of doing more with less and, in renovation, of cleverly reusing and adapting existing spaces where warranted. (As a result, the jury commented on several remarkable transformations.) Specific design trends included: * Improved functional access and responsiveness to senses; * More attention to scale--and homelike surroundings; * Significant adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the process of adapting old structures for new purposes. When the original use of a structure changes or is no longer required, as with older buildings from the industrial revolution, architects have the opportunity to change the primary function of the ; * Greater emphasis on dining (and its changing program requirements); * Renewed interest in staffing efficiencies; * Aesthetic evolution of programming ideas; * Redefined timeless ambience; * Safe, comfortable, empowering environments. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Volzer, "As the company we keep and the place in which we dwell shape our lives, we shall continue into our senior years to seek living spaces that have meaning to us and that will promote human relationships. At no other point in our lives will our 'spirit of being' be so dependent on the relevance of design. This year's jury recognized that, beyond good functional design, the architectural and interior design defining today's range of senior-living environments must reflect the life span, behavior, and even cultural diversity of its residents to create a context for wellness and the development of new routines and relationships." RELATED ARTICLE: ABOUT THE JURY Jury chairman Rob Volzer is Interiors Director of Clark Patterson Associates, a full-service design firm based in Rochester, N.Y. Dr. Lorraine Hiatt is a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City-based consultant specializing in aging and environmental design. Dan Morris, AIA AIA - Application Integration Architecture , is president and founder of Morris Switzer, Environments for Health, a design and construction firm dealing exclusively with health care and senior living with offices in Vermont, Maine, Montreal, Toronto, Canada, and Tel Aviv Tel Aviv (tĕl əvēv`), city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural center and the core of its largest , Israel. Kay S. Trimmer trimmer see resco nail trimmer, toenail scissors. is owner and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Interior Design/Kay Trimmer Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, and Advisory Board Member of the Interior Design Department of Ohio University. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion