Retirement Centers: Building for Accessibility & Community Living

As the U.S. population ages and lives longer, senior living facilities are becoming more important than ever. Occupancy rates are climbing nationwide, but the availability of new units hasn’t always kept pace with demand. If you’re a senior living provider, there’s never been a better time to invest in new construction or renovations. Getting the most out of your investment means building for the future and the evolving demands of this specialized market.

As a leading design-build contractor in Northeast Ohio, we’ve worked on many retirement facilities, and we know what it takes to maximize every aspect of your space. Here are the top factors we ask our clients to consider:

Build for Community

The best senior living facilities recognize that they play a multifaceted role in an aging adult’s life. Residents need a comfortable place to live, quality food and specialized care – but they also need to feel like part of a community. Socializing and entertaining can be key selling features when residents are evaluating a facility. Today’s facilities can be designed to feel like a neighborhood – with shared amenities, integrated retail, and flexible areas. For example, does a dining hall become an event venue at night? Does a chapel double as a theater? Multipurpose areas need to be planned ahead of time so that we can include the infrastructure necessary to support flexibility and engagement. For example:

Build for Comfort

Retirement centers are shifting away from hospital-like, institutional designs and embracing warm, inviting and beautifully designed spaces. Today’s buildings include architectural interest, exterior gardens, walking paths, and areas to connect with nature. Interior spaces welcome the outside in with large windows and home-like finishes.

Privacy is also important. Residents need spaces that they can personalize and that mimic the areas they had in a larger home. Kitchenettes, separate sleeping and living room spaces, along with private baths all elevate the senior living experience and make properties more desirable.

Build for Safety

In addition to feeling welcoming and “like home,” retirement centers need to be built for resident safety. Fall prevention, secure entries and exits, wayfinding support – coupled with critical ADA features – are essential. A building’s design and the materials used during construction can go a long way towards helping to keep resident’s safe. During the early stages of a project, we consider many variables that can affect a campus’ infrastructure and must be planned for upfront, including:

Build for Accessibility

Senior living facilities should be designed and built to support resident independence. Often, residents experience a slow decline in mobility or memory, so buildings need to help residents overcome these challenges. In addition to including wide hallways and doorways that accommodate mobility equipment, we’ll also consider other important accessibility features: handrails, elevators, automatic doors, zero-threshold entries, non-slip surfaces, easy transitions and well-placed wayfinding.