From nursing home to master-planned community to resort-style community to multifamily development, senior living communities have undergone dramatic transformations over the last several years. All these trends and makeovers are progressively integrating seniors into local communities rather than isolating them on the outskirts of town. They also allow these communities to attract younger, more active clientele. From trying to make senior living communities trendy to making them feel like home, the latest fad is to ensure they appeal to all ages. The new allure is multifamily design which gives spaces multipurpose functionality, appealing aesthetics, technological integration and a variety of unique amenities that cater to numerous age groups with varied interests. Claire Richards, project design manager for StudioSIX5, has a background in multifamily developments and is passionate about infusing stylistic features to create a youthful and urban look and feel.
“Multifamily trends and senior living designs overlap in the development of new senior living communities,” said Richards. “We design for younger demographics as communities seek to create an avant-garde and inspiring experience for any person who visits the community, not just the residents who live there. It is also about designing for residents who will move in 10 to 20 years from now, and we have to ask ourselves: ‘What will they expect in a community?’ We must we ensure that the spaces are flexible to adapt to trends on the horizon.”
The two main components of current multifamily design trends are amenities and convenience. In regard to convenience, people living in a multifamily development (senior living or not) are interested in valet trash pickup and valet dry cleaning, smart technology inside their apartment, charging stations in commons spaces, hospitality bars, concierge services, large business centers with advanced equipment, as well as elaborate fitness centers with equipment that tracks workout progress and classes led by instructors both in person and virtually. Location is critical, and many new senior developments are immersed in urban living and surrounded by multifamily developments. By integrating communities into these urban developments, residents have access to retail, restaurants and entertainment, all just outside their door. Having amenities both inside and outside of the community is a huge draw for active people who enjoy engaging in multiple hobbies and social gatherings.
“Something we have seen recently is the addition of sport simulators, which essentially enable seniors to play sports like golf or softball inside their community,” said Richards. “Business centers are more elaborate to cater to residents who are not fully retired and work from home. More detail and attention are also given to fitness centers as the nation becomes more health conscious. While indoor amenities address some needs, others desire outdoor amenities such as walking trails or indoor and outdoor spaces that seamlessly fuse the two together.”
This major change in direction for senior living started when developers, owners and operators sought to meet the advanced expectations of baby boomers. These seniors are well-traveled, desire more choices and look for a residential experience that helps them keep living life while also giving them to the opportunity to explore new interests. They do not want to feel isolated in an old fashioned community near the country, they want to live in a vibrant urban community where they can engage with people from all walks of life, not just their peers.
“Some of the newer developments we worked on look just like other luxury apartment complexes in the area, so much that people will express interest in leasing a unit only to discover they do not meet the 55-plus or 62-plus age requirement,” said Richards. “That’s our goal, to make the communities desirable to people of any age. When we create designs and come up with ideas, we not only imagine how to take something traditional and improve it, we think about the many people these spaces will serve. We ask ourselves questions like: What would I like to see if I was living here? What would my parents enjoy? What local flair can we include that those native to the area would appreciate? It is so rewarding to take lines on paper and turn them into a 3-D space that people live in and have experiences in every day. I’ll never forget visiting my first senior living project and seeing seniors using the spaces I helped create. A few approached me expressing how hip and cool the spaces felt and described the pride they felt when family came to visit. It’s exciting to change people’s perception of normal, to shake up traditional designs and infuse hospitality trends and multifamily development trends into the senior living communities of the future.”