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“To protect our
architectural
heritage, we
need to give old
buildings a new
lease on life.”
They often don’t feel old and they want
to be able to live a different, more active
life than older people in the past. Build-
ings must be able to respond to that,”
he says.
Most architects working in this highly
specialized field agree that we need to
move away from single-use facilities
accommodating only older people, who
are often cut off from the wider com-
munity. “It’s not healthy for your state
of mind to be divorced from the rest of
the population,” says Heenan.
MORE INTEGRATION
He cites the positive example of a care
facility he visited in Barcelona, Spain, the
Centre Sociosanitari Putget Dolors Aleu,
which overlooks the town square. It has
huge sun screens that open up so that
the elderly can enjoy the view, feel the
benefits of the fresh air and the sunshine,
and watch the children in the nearby
park. “There is nothing hidden about it. It
is part of the city and the city landscape.”
Increasingly architects are looking at
mixed-use developments, which include
many generations of family members.
These could offer graduated levels of
care for older residents, with an on-site
facility providing medical, catering, and
other services.
Another approach is to create adapt-
able or “whole of life” buildings which
can be reconfigured as inhabitants age
to fit their changing needs. Walls could
be adjusted in order to enlarge a room
to make it suitable for a wheelchair and
intelligent control systems could be
introduced which use sensors, voice,
and facial recognition technology to
help people with cognitive and physi-
cal impairments such as dementia, im-
paired mobility, hearing, or sight loss.
CARING TECHNOLOGY
This might involve embedding sensors
in apartments which set off an alarm if
the resident fails to stop breathing or
move around, or a jewelry-like device
that allows people with limited mobility
to control household appliances using
simple hand gestures. Heenan goes a
step further, imagining transforming
an apartment wall into a huge com-
puter screen. “An older person could
approach the wall and say, ‘How is my
granddaughter Sarah?’ at which voice
recognition technology would pull up
Sarah’s Skype account or Facebook
page, showing what she’s been up to
and allowing them to get in touch or
leave a message for her,” he says.
Systems have been developed to
help people navigate around their
homes and mixed-use developments, by
sensing obstacles and giving directions
verbally or with embedded signage.
Other systems use GPS and Bluetooth
technology to help people find their
way in the wider community outside
their homes. One of these, Opportunity
Knocks, learns its user’s regular routes,
then if they take a wrong turn or board
the wrong bus it makes a knocking
sound to alert them and provides infor-
mation about how to get back to where
they are supposed to be.
Monitoring technology can also be
used to assess a resident’s behavior and
cognitive function over a period of time,
such as whether or not they have been
mentally active, taking exercise, eating
The changing face of an aging world
Japan, where there are 40 million over 60s today, is currently
the only country in the world with more than 30 percent of its
population over 60. But by 2050, 64 countries are expected to
reach that proportion. In China there are 180.7 million people
over 60 today
–
that’s 13.3 percent of the population, a figure
which is predicted to reach 33.9 percent in 2050. The number
of centenarians in the world is projected to increase from fewer
than 316,600 in 2011 to 3.2 million in 2050.
The projected growth of the proportion of the population
over 60 in countries around the globe from 2012 to 2050:
Finland
25.8% to 31.5%
United Kingdom
23% to 29.6%
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| PEOPLE FLOW