Corcoran Ota
Corcoran Ota

Designing for Senior Wellness & Wellbeing in the Post-COVID World

In 2014, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) launched the WELL Building Standard, focusing on overall human health within the built environment. It’s a program that we reference often, and that informs how we, as architects, can provide healthier environments for building occupants.

Today in the midst of a global pandemic, WELL Building Standards have never been more important. But as designers of housing for fragile and sensitive populations – Senior Apartments, Independent Living facilities, Assisted Care and Memory Care – the onus is on us to look beyond them, toward designing spaces that take into consideration the differing levels of need at each facility type and that maximize wellness in the face of current and future constraints.

It’s what’s been on our mind at COG for the past three months; back-burner musings that have turned into a passionate initiative designing for the world’s “new normal.” We’re propelled by a fundamental question: How can architecture influence, for the better, the lives of senior housing occupants?

Our focus has always been on the needs of our senior residents: their security & safety, health and wellbeing, and community. However, the virus and society’s efforts to contain it propose major challenges to all these things for seniors – and for us in designing for them. How, we wonder, will we balance managing risk and facilitating preparedness with the need for beautiful, inspiring spaces? We don’t build government offices or hospitals. We build places to live life on all levels.

To work through these issues, we’ve put together a list of ways we are re-tooling our design thinking to build better, more safely and more beautifully for our senior residents.

Corcoran Ota
The Villas At Canterfield

Health

The elderly and medically fragile are among the most at-risk. This was true before COVID-19 and will remain true after the pandemic ends. As a result, we’re focusing even more on things like air quality and limiting contact with high-touch, germ-harboring surfaces. “Airborne diseases can be mitigated with good ventilation,” says COG architect Amber Einarsson. “COVID is just one example.”

High-powered HEPA filtration is becoming more commonplace in our residences. UV technology to control mold and microbes is also becoming more popular. With regard to high-touch areas, we are specifying hands-free technology for doors, locks, lights, hydration centers and even toilets, and considering in our space planning how we can make enhanced sanitizing procedures easier for everyone. One idea we’re considering: automatic sanitation misters in enclosed areas like elevators. Once empty, computer-controlled cleaning procedures commence, helping keep these high-traffic areas safe for residents and staff alike.

Safety & Security

Lighting has always been an important consideration when designing senior facilities. From preventing trips and falls and illuminating entries and exits for security reasons, to maximizing natural lighting to boost residents’ moods and emotional wellbeing. We’ve “always gone for as much brightness as we could afford,” says Michael Corcoran. Today however, it’s even more important, as we rethink safe spaces in which residents can spend time. One additional way we contribute is to factor in more outdoor spaces so seniors can safely enjoy open air activities that offer less transmission risk.

Sometimes however, it’s what’s “outside” that’s the problem. Much of the risk to senior residents comes from people coming and going at the facility. From food service workers to cleaning and maintenance staff, to residents’ own families, the potential for disease transmission rises whenever someone moving about in the greater world enters the community’s circle. To help mitigate this risk, we’re using smart space planning to create separation for staff and outsiders, things like separate entrances and clear barriers between open and closed-access locations, as well as enlarging staff bathrooms so workers can distance themselves from each other and planning spaces for residents’ families to safely visit with their loved ones should another global pandemic occur.

The Villas At Canterfield Gallery 13
The Villas At Canterfield

Community

Finally, one of the most difficult factors to design for is the inherent reduction in social interaction brought by the social distancing measures. Seniors thrive in community, and the virus has put a damper on everyone’s potential for in-person connection. We’re compensating by designing for smaller groups and larger distances between residents, encouraging smaller gatherings with limited seating options at tables, and creating multi-purpose rooms that can be opened or partitioned off depending on activity and risk level. Additionally, we’re making even more outdoor spaces for activities available to residents – something we’ve always focused on, but an aspect of senior life that has become critical to maintaining mental health.

The relationship between the quality of a physical environment and quality of life has never been as important as it is today. We’re excited to be a part of the future of building better for at-risk populations. It’s been our passion since our founding, and we’ll continue to take our place on the forefront of the issue as times goes on.

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