When building senior living architecture, there are ways to make life easier for senior citizens to navigate involving incorporating various elements that promote senior safety, accessibility, comfort and convenience. By incorporating the following elements into senior living design, you can create environments for aging that enhance the safety for seniors and overall better senior living, enabling seniors to navigate their living space with ease and confidence.

Key Considerations for Design

First and foremost, in senior living design, accessibility for every resident is paramount. When building, take adequate care to provide enough room in hall pathways to facilitate ease in navigation. Many seniors use wheelchairs or assistive devices like walkers. Ensure that doorways throughout the community are wide enough to accommodate this equipment. When designing, include features such as ramps and elevators to improve accessibility.

Residence Features

Throughout the community, post clear signage to help seniors navigate their way throughout the hallways and homes. Add cues such as room numbers, directional signs, labels and schedules on rooms to help facilitate getting to the right place. This boosts the quality of life for seniors and makes practical environments for aging.

There are also design elements for inside the homes that make a difference in residents’ lives. Open floor plans and lighting features throughout the home are important to reduce accidents and provide adequate light to move around. Installing easy-to-use appliances and bathroom and kitchen fixtures that are easy to maneuver can improve visibility and reduce accidents in the home.

Common Area Features

In common areas and in homes, implement safety features throughout, such as handrails along hallways and bathrooms, non-slip flooring (the best flooring for seniors), and well-lit pathways and hallways. A community-wide emergency call system, available in common spaces and in each residence, can help notify team members to expedite help or medical attention right away if necessary.

Designing community spaces to include multipurpose rooms that can be rearranged for different activities also can help encourage social interaction and engagement among residents. Creating family-style dining rooms for residents to gather around and enjoy each other’s company is a great way to meet new people and create camaraderie in the community and with fellow residents.

For outdoor spaces, make the most of the outdoors with paved walking paths and green space. Incorporate resident gardens and seating areas where residents can enjoy fresh air and sunshine. Overall, make sure outdoor areas are secured and accessible for all residents using taller railings on fenced, secured terraces. For Dallas assisted living and memory care in Dallas, Anthology of Highland Park rises above the neighborhood with its senior living design. With floor-to-ceiling windows and outdoor terraces, residents can bask in the sun any time they’d like.

At Anthology of Edmonds in Edmonds, Washington, residents can enjoy the sunshine on benches around walking paths, and the pet-friendly community makes it easy to get exercise for residents. If you are looking for Edmonds senior living or to retire in Washington state, check out this community!

Creating Whole-Person Wellness With Senior Living Spaces

Senior living design is not just about the physical construction of the community and homes but how it makes people feel. Do they feel safe, secure and engaged in their community? Can they enjoy their lives easily day to day, navigating around the community and their homes peacefully and without obstruction? Feeling safe is paramount for residents and contributes to higher morale and enhanced quality of life.

Integrating technology into the design to enhance senior safety, communication and access to healthcare services is a great way to step up safety measures in the community. These could include emergency call systems, telemedicine facilities and smart home features for energy efficiency and convenience.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many communities have implemented temperature scanners and visitor check-in systems to limit the amount of outside contagion exposure to residents and team members.