The face of aging has improved markedly over the past 25 years to one of health and sustained energyAccording to the newest research at the Longevity Center at Stanford, you will live a lot longer than you may think that you will. The Baby Boomer generation is redefining the limits of aging and have been called, The Zoomers! According to an article in The Economist, you may also become happier as you age. When many young people think about aging, they fear and dread it. New scientific research surprisingly suggests that the reality of aging is the total opposite: increasing happiness. The most unhappy people identified by the study were in their late 40s. After age 50, with careful planning and design, many people enter into renewed serenity and joy.

We all want to age gracefully. It is a belief at our architectural firm that good design in your home can be your best ally in achieving a healthy and graceful lifestyle from age 65 and beyond. The factors that impact design for aging are the same ones that impact all good design. Truly great design provides beautiful, functional, practical, accessible spaces on a human scale that relate to the way we live, while continuing to contribute to enhanced psycho-social well-being.

Below are some of the factors in aging, which need to be considered in Aging-in-Place (stay in your home and community) design. Some of the things that can occur are not particularly pleasant to consider. But, the earlier we understand these factors, the better we can mitigate their effects. The solutions to these factors help people of all ages and physical abilities and comprise the concept called Universal Design. Our firm also believes that universal design plays a part in sustainable design. And by extension of this thinking, sustainable design contributes to sustainable relationships and an increased quality of life. A more complete discussion of some solutions will be the content of the third article in our series on Aging:

Functional Decline
Changes in the body due to age can result in loss of muscle mass, changes in balance and other factors that impact day-to-day function. Overcoming these changes requires solid strategy, preventative measures and a good bit of common sense. Recognize how your body is changing and start modifying your environment earlier rather than later to prevent these changes from becoming impediments to a high quality of life.

Depression
The elderly may be the group most impacted by depression. Isolation, changes in the body and loss of relationships contribute to older people feeling sad and depressed. The good news is that many types of depression can be treated. Changes in mood are often bio-chemical. The stigma of mental illness has been reduced, as evidenced by recent dissemination of information. Know the warning signs of depression and seek immediate help. Besides accurate diagnosis and medications, access to stimulation, cheerful people of various ages, and exercise are a few keys to elevated mood and high cognitive functioning. Daylighting, simply allowing more sunlight into a home, is a feature of sustainable design that has been shown to improve learning and mood. Today's seniors enjoy more years of shared and increased quality of life experiences than in previous generations

Disease
Diseases can build up over time. Many older people are dealing with multiple diseases and multiple medications. The symptoms of age-related disease can affect daily life and decrease the quality of life. Managing diseases carefully by seeking the care of well-integrated medical services can minimize the impact of the diseases and medications on your life. Develop an attitude of 'pushing through' and hopefulness, regardless of what is being lost as a result of aging. Rearrange/redesign your home to maximize accessibility, accommodate for limited mobility, and limit falls are all important to remaining encouraged and curious about the world. Specific design ideas will follow in the third installment of this series.

Abuse and Neglect
Often, older persons must rely on others for care and support. Abuse and neglect is far too common. Older persons may even, sometimes due to depression, neglect themselves or become unpleasant people to be around. Assist the older people in your life to find the best caregivers possible, rotating them often so that no one person 'burns out' in high maintenance tasks. Provide places in your home design where caregivers can reside and entertain themselves with the least amount of interruption in the normal conduction of your family's daily life.

Seniors are maintaining active lifestyles and healthier practices to enjoy extended life expectancyCaregiver Burnout
As discussed above, caregivers are essential to help people stay independent as they age and be sure that medical and other needs are taken care of. The problem is that caregiving is hard work. A challenge of aging is making sure that caregivers stay healthy and avoid burnout. Here again, there are simple home design solutions that help caregivers stay strong, healthy and upbeat. These will be discussed in the last installment of this series.

Financial Exploitation
Older people are trusting and need more help keeping track of finances -- the perfect storm for exploitation. Pay attention to strange and unexpected financial changes and charges. Treat any financial "help" with a healthy dose of skepticism. Set up scheduled payments through trusted bank officers, accountants, and advisors who possess current technical skills. Thinking ahead by integrating universal design elements can allow for smoother transitions to products and technologies that mitigate problems in the organization of finances.

Polypharmacy
Polypharmacy is a term that refers to the fact that many seniors find themselves seeing multiple doctors for different health problems. Often, these doctors will prescribe medication without fully knowing all the medications and other supplements that their patient is taking. Medications can cancel each other out or interact and produce unwanted and even dangerous side effects. Living in close proximity to medical providers, like university hospitals, that employ integrated services treating the whole patient is most desirable. Designing a home to be simple, accessible, and less confusing aids immensely, when pharmaceuticals may diminsh cognition and mobility.

Falls
Vision problems, combined with weakness and a loss of balance create the perfect storm for falls. Add to this a loss of bone density and falls become very serious. Every older person (and every person taking care of them) should assess home and other places for ways to reduce clutter, obstacles, and uneven or slippery surfaces to prevent falls. Design that emphasize wide ranges of motion and safety are part of the universal standards.Today's seniors look at this dour stoic agricultural snapshot of what used to be considered "the average Americans" in a rear view mirror!

Next Article: Great Design For Aging-in-Place!

Conceptual sketch for a sustainable/universal design home: single level, daylighting, high efficiency features, independent living wing separated by dogtrot porch, large porches that encourage outside living activities"We want this to be our last home and we want it to work for us, as we age."

The beginning of a three-part series inspired by a Leadership Texas Conference on Health and Wellness:

Part 1: What is 'Aging in Place'
Part 2: Aging factors that impact design
Part 3: How good design can support 'Aging in Place'

OVERVIEW OF AGING IN PLACE

Our architectural firm is hearing the statement above more frequently than ever before from clients. After some demographic and marketing research,we determined that this is not just our trend; it’s a paradigm shift in housing needs for the entire U.S., which we noticed a number of years ago from our clients. If you want your current home or the one you will design in the future to be flexible for your continuous use, an understanding of the phenomena of “aging in place” and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) is important (in Part 3).

Dallas home, a sustainable/universal design in collaboration with HKS, Inc., has main living area on one level; guest area on second level; large doors and openings; hard floor surfaces for ease in maneuvering; floors and porches at same level with minimum thresholds

Findings from The Stanford Center on Longevity

Longevity is not just about the elderly. Young people today are the first in human history who can — with reasonable certainty — anticipate very long lives. Changes in life span and shifts in population demographics affect people’s lives at all ages. The implications are profound, and there is no single problem or solution. There needs to be a national conversation about long life because of the economic, employment, and resource allocations are beginning to result in stresses throughout our society.

The Stanford Center on Longevity is asking the same questions that we, as architects, are posing to our clients when they discuss their new designs with us:

1. When our clients undertake new designs, how can we prepare their homes for continuous use as their needs change with family size and age?

2. What kind of neighborhood infrastructure is necessary to support young adults so that they can reach old age physically fit, mentally sharp and financially secure?

3. What do our older clients who will also live far longer than the role models who preceded them need in their new or retro-fitted designs?

4. How can we as architects assist our clients who want to ‘age in place’ and stay in their homes in comfort and security?

Trends to Follow for Aging in Place

 “Aging in place” refers to living where you have lived for years, typically not in a health care environment, using products, services, and conveniences which allow you to remain in your home as circumstances change. In other words, you continue to live in the home of your choice safely and independently as you get older.

Aging in place is more than being in an environment of choice as one gets older, it means home; a place for emotional and functional needs to be met. A foundation where family histories are created and rich memories have been woven from shared experiences.
Home contains a lifetime of cherished objects that support identity and delight the senses. It’s also community and those daily rituals and comfortable patterns you’ve come to love. You want to stay where you already live.

You’ve Got Options as you Age

Low maintenance design and landscaping on single levelThe essence of home is to feel safe in an environment where you have the ability to control and enjoy your experiences. However, aging can lead to the reduction in physical abilities and loss of “environmental competence”–or the ability to get around, see obstacles, and conduct your daily routine. Later in life the home you love can become difficult to live in, even unsafe.

The good news is that with a growing number of housing modification options: care giving, assistive technologies, aging in place tips, and green strategies, the home may actually serve to maintain independence by compensating for reduced functioning–as well as help the environment for future generations. The better news is that if you start with a new design that considers your future needs from the beginning as a young adult, taking into account the principles of universal design, not only do have a good real estate investment, you can stay ‘in place’ as long as you desire. With all the concerns about where Mom and Dad should spend their retirement years, often the last option explored is perhaps the simplest: to stay right at home. After all, if the comforts of home also provide the comforts you need in old age, within affordable, convenient and familiar surroundings, then why should it be necessary to leave?

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports modification for aging-in-place is the fastest growing segment of the residential industry. The NAHB in collaboration with AARP developed the Certified Aging-in-Place Specialists (CAPS) program to meet the increasing demand by seniors and baby boomers for barrier-free living environments. Architects have been required for years to understand accessibility and ‘universal design,' as these are basic licensing requirements.

The requests of my parents when they were alive was that they live in their home until the end of their lives. They got to do it, because their home was designed by an architect who understood universal design--my dad was a disabled veteran of WWII. We all deserve to live in dignity and safety in our homes, until the end of lives, if this is what we want. Steve Chambers, AIA

"Transcendence," an ice sculpture installation by Shane Pennington opened the TEDxSMU conference We attended the 2011 TEDxSMU DISRUPTION* conference, held this week at the Wyly Theater in downtown Dallas. The astonishing variety of speakers sparked discussions about the positive connotations of disruption: the epiphanies, the moments of moral obligation to initiate change, and the transcendent nature of art, how it stirs the soul to engage with what is vulnerable and fragile on the earth and in its people.

We had the pleasure of hosting one of the speakers and a voice for the world’s most ‘at risk’ children, Maja Ajmera, founder of the The Global Fund for Children and an author of children’s books**. But, the most transcendent moment for us came while having breakfast with Maya, another speaker, sculptor Jaume Plensa, his wife, Laura Medina, and their host, architect Betsy del Monte of The Beck Group. As we talked about the business of making art and how artists create objects or work that give a form to our souls, Jaume interrupted with the statement, “what is important are not the things we make--it’s how we orient ourselves to the world."

His message to us is this: we build our lives, one "Nuria" and "Irma" by Jaume Plensa seem tp contain the landscape in their heads at teh Yorkshire Sculpture Park interaction at a time. And just as cells slowly associate with one another, eventually arriving at a construction of a single unique body, so do we create meaning in our associations with people. Eventually, positive change in our communities and society as a whole disrupts the inertia to maintain the status quo, wherever we may be. Maya and Jaume are creating a dialogue at rapid speed, interrupting ‘business as usual, re-shaping the world as we’ve come to accept it. They refuse to settle. And they inspired us to disrupt our comfort in order to create more beauty and comfort for others.

•    *to break a circuit
•    ** for every book you purchase on Maya’s website, a book will be sent to a child in a school supported by the Global Fund

"Clouds 365" by Jaume Plensa rests on the pavilion to greet visitors at the door to the Meadows Museum at SMU

Video of Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa in Chicago:

Modern cruxifix inside La Sagrada Familia by Antoni GaudiBecause we are engaged in the business of creating a ‘sense of belonging and place,' we notice locations that create this feeling in the two of us when we travel. We attempt to document them, describe them for ourselves, remember them vividly, in order to recreate pieces of the experiences at home in the lives we lead every day. Some of these places are in Texas, the Southwest, and across the U.S. And some are on other continents. Our trip to Barcelona was just such a memorable place, one in which we feel that we belong, to its people, its landscape, and its culture.Colorful clothing on Barcelona streets near waterfront

As we say “goodbye” in this last chapter of our Spain Blog, we look at why certain places hold special meaning for us.  Why do some have a strong identity and character that is deeply felt by its visitors? What we identify in all of them is a mix of the natural and cultural features in the landscape and the people who occupy it. There are places that represent an interaction of nature and of man that belong uniquely to these locales and stay with us for a long time.

So what is so distinct and rare about Barcelona and the surrounding region of Catalan that still resonates, long after we return home? We made a list so that should you ever find yourself on the Costa Brava, you will look for what we loved there:

Statue of Christopher Columbus, pointing to the New World, at building on Barcelona waterfrontAzure blue sky; rocky cliffs snuggled up to a wild Mediterranean Sea; fish and shellfish of every taste, color, and description; ancient Iberian heritage; balmy moist air; colorful clothes, buildings, and art; regional pride; deep appreciation of their artists and architects which leads to the preservation of their contributions; fresh fruit, rice dishes, creamy desserts, chocolate; the Spanish Triathlon: eating, drinking, falling in love; quirky and melancholy art and literature; a sense of fairness and order, while at the same time embracing artists who break rules; pervasive acceptance in the culture of all things artistic and colorful; beautiful vegetation that is often seen as motifs in its architecture; strong religious heritage and beautiful churches; and integration of the contemporary and the ancient architecture and culture.

Our 'last look' photo gallery below: Barcelona airport; old bullfighting ring retrofitted with modern interior and escalator; Dali; beautiful government buildings; attractive police force; sycamore tree bark that looks like a painting; colorful murals; modern art on ancient buildings; prawns; Mediterranean Sea; our colorful glass-enclosed bathroom; breakfast; fried calamari; Catalan cream dessert; ceiling tiles in our 1100 AD castle; flowers; the rolling countryside and vistas.

View of the two fanciful public buildings designed by Gaudi at the entrance to Parc Guell in Gracia area, looking out over Barcelona and the bay of the Mediterranean Sea.Parc Güell, a Catalan word pronounced “park khwell,” is a garden complex with architectural elements sited on a hill in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí, and constructed between 1900-1914. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Works of Antoni Gaudí.

On our brief visit to this site, it is clear to us that Gaudí respects and appreciates nature. He does not view it as a monotonous object, but seeks to understand all its nuances and deepen the visitor's understanding of it through his work. He uses nature as a reference and source of inspiration in his work and reinterprets it in unusual ways, breaking many architectural paradigms. Nature is the architecture here and architecture is but one more piece in its natural order. Parc Güell preserves the essence of “mountain,” its natural charm and its magnetism. Gaudí uses all the elements that nature provides, working its forms, curves, and stone. On a barren hill, almost absent of vegetation, he devises a system that accumulates rainwater that seeps through rocks in an underground tank and supports all of the vegetation. New native Mediterranean species are planted: palm, carob, pine, cypress, fig, almond, plum, lavender, thyme, rockrose, sage, mimosa, and magnolia--the overall effect is stunningly lush.A walkway (below) and roadway (above) through the park, mirroring organic shapes of trees and providing nests for park birds and respite from sun for visitors

The park, originally an integral part of a housing site, was the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, after whom the park was named. Güell was inspired by The English Garden City Movement, a method of urban planning originated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard who was himself inspired by the Utopian novel, Looking Backward. Garden cities were self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts," a planned symbiosis of nature and shelter that contained proportionate areas of homes, commercial structures, and agriculture. When one garden city reached critical capacity, another was put in place nearby, all energized by connected roads and railways.

The rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees where Parc Güell is sited, called Muntanya Pelada (Bare Mountain), already included a large country house called Larrard House. The intent was to take advantage of the fresh air, away from smoky city factories, and the beautiful views of Barcelona. Sixty triangular lots were provided for luxurious villas. In 1906, Count Eusebi Güell added to the cachet of the development by moving into the Larrard House. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí. One was intended to be a show house, but when there were no buyers into the development, Gaudí, at Güell's suggestion, bought it with his savings and moved in with his family and his father in 1906. Gaudí lived in the home from 1906 to 1926. It contains original works by Gaudí and, since 1963, called the Casa Museu Gaudí (Gaudí Museum). In 1969 Parc Guell, a failed commercial endeavor, was declared a historical artistic monument.

A gate featuring Gaudi's version of Art Nouveau (Modernisme) that invites the child in us all to play (pictured here: Melissa & Philip Kingston, who accompanied us on the trip to Barcelona) Park Güell skillfully engenders all of the peace and calm that visitors expect to encounter in parks. Gaudí incorporated many motifs of Catalan nationalism, elements of religious mysticism, and ancient poetry into the park. The public buildings that flank the entrance, with their fancifully shaped roofs and pinnacles, fit in well with the botanicals and are more inconspicuous in this environment than other flamboyant buildings designed by Gaudí that lie within the Barcelona cityscape. A smiling dragon covered in trencadís (small broken colorful ceramics that conform to sinewy shapes) guards the stairway behind this entrance and the focal point of the entire park, a high main terrace surrounded by a long bench in the form of a sea serpent. The curves of the serpent bench form a number of groupings and encourage social gatherings within the plaza attracting artists and musicians to assemble and perform. To design the curvature of the bench surface, Gaudí purportedly used the shape of buttocks left by a naked workman sitting in wet clay. The park’s high-point offers the most complete and compelling panoramic view of Barcelona and its bay. It is possible to view the temple of La Sagrada Família and the Montjuïc area in the distance. Several thousand years ago, Iberic Celts settled on Montjuïc, a hill southeast of Barcelona's current city center and was later used by the Romans as a ceremonial place. Underneath the high terrace are magnificent Doric columns that support the plaza and form a roof for a lower court, creating a counterbalancing enclosure of reverential quietude. 

Roadways around the park to service the intended houses were designed by Gaudí as structures jutting out from the steep hillside or running on viaducts, with separate footpaths in arcades formed under these structures. This minimized the intrusion of the roads, and Gaudí designed them using local stone in a way that integrates them closely into the landscape. His structures mirror the natural vegetation, with sloping columns like tree trunks branching to form vaults under the roadway. The roadway resembles the pine trees of the park. In order to fit in, the road and walkway structures between the terraces were built with stones quarried within the park. Stone bird nests have been installed in the vaults of the walkways. Occasionally, green birds can be seen flying with pigeons and sparrows. These are monk parakeets that became a common species started from escapees from captivity in the 1970s. The roads meander like rivers with undulating and slightly sloping columns or tree-shaped stalactites, caverns, and materials of the region that impart a sensation of constant movement.The dragon covered in trencadís (broken tiles) that guards the stairway behind this entrance to the park

After walking the park, it is worth a visit to the Gaudí Museum in the architect’s former residence, where many of Gaudí’s personal belongings and some of his distinctive furniture is seen. The architecture of this home (not designed by Gaudí) is disappointingly ordinary for its time when compared with his other creations, especially the surrounding environs of Parc Güell. It is a remarkable contradiction, however, for visitors to the park to see how the architect actually lived and where we expect him to spend his days, considering it housed an architect with such an exceptionally non-derivative and creative mind.  It also makes us wonder how the 60 villas Gaudí planned to design might have been enhanced by this mastery in  landscape design and adds to the complexity and our curiosity of this extraordinary architect.

(Photography credit: Stephanie Chambers)

Pictured in gallery below: public building design; the interior and furniture of Casa Museu Gaudi, the architect's home for 20 years; a photo of the home's pink stucco exterior and fanciful Art Nouveau stencils; various photos of our group's walk (and bench rest!) through the park's walkways and roadways; botanicals; close-up of dragon; finally, Doric columns forming lower terrace.