Eager to make up for time lost daydreaming in foxholes, soldiers arriving home from World War II rushed to their bedrooms with the wives and lovers who had patiently awaited their return. The result was a surfeit of bouncing babies, now known as the boomers, whose numbers are astounding. By 2030, the amount of Americans over the age of 65 will more than double —from just over 30 million to over 70 million—and represent more than 20 percent of the population.
This vast sea of approaching gray should have a tremendous impact on current architecture and design. Yet there is real opposition to accessible elements within the home. As Valerie Fletcher, executive director of Boston-based nonprofit Adaptive Environments, says, “Developments and houses for people aged 55 and over just aren’t building in senior-friendly features.”
“Our culture is deeply resistant to accepting the idea of aging at all,” Fletcher explains. “No one over the age of 65 wants to be identified as having disabilities.” Fletcher, whose organization was formed to promote accessible design in both public and private spaces, relates a personal anecdote to illustrate this point: Her mother, in her mid-80s, was opposed to having a grab bar installed in her bathroom a week before her hip-replacement surgery because of the product’s implication that she was “getting old.” After a protracted argument, the grab bar was put in, and “now she raves about how easy it is to get into and out of the shower,” says Fletcher, with a slightly exasperated laugh.
Numerous similar stories can be heard from architects and designers. It seems that as soon as the words “elderly” or “senior” are uttered in conjunction with a design project, clients take offense. Michael Thomas, an interior designer and principal at the Design Collective Group and a self-professed missionary for accessible design, has simply stopped telling people that he’s modifying their homes. “I had one client, a very progressive woman in her early 60s, who asked me to renovate her house,” he explains. “I put a sculptural grab bar in the bathroom, raised the toilet seat to chair height for ease of use, removed the curb around the shower, did all sorts of things. And I told her this will all be good if you ever break your leg or need a wheelchair. Her response was, ‘I don’t want any of that old-people stuff; I don’t want my house to look like a nursing home.’ I realized that in the future I’d just design houses this way as a matter of course—but never offer a rationale other than to say it looks more beautiful and is more comfortable that way.”
It’s no surprise that in our youth-obsessed society no one wants to admit to getting old. And with all of the options available to promote the goal of looking and feeling younger, most boomers are enjoying healthier and longer lives than previous generations. “My clients are active people; they eat and exercise well. But their strongest issue is still their fear of facing the future, and many have face-lifts, tummy tucks, and implants,” says Thomas.
In reality aging does cause limitations and impairment in people’s ability to function within their homes. Decreases in abilities, as listed by the National HealthCare Corporation, include hearing loss, impaired vision, and restrictions in manual dexterity and mobility. Moreover, as aging expert and educator James Pirkl states, “Falls are the single leading cause of injury-related fatalities among those 65 and older.”
Facing this truth earlier rather than later makes things much easier in the long run. “The heart of our society is our homes, and if we don’t think of ways now to invest in our houses to adjust to our changing lives, we’re screwed,” says Fletcher. “The worst thing people can do is wait until a crisis happens. If you deal with crises as emergency retrofits, you won’t get the kind of renovation you would get if you planned in advance.”
Part of the solution, then, to making elderly design more palatable to consumers is the packaging of the idea. Catchphrases like “transgenerational design,” “universal design,” and “design beyond age” seek to show that considerate design can benefit everyone, and therefore not marginalize the needs of the aging. A good example is the Good Grips series by OXO, kitchen utensils that are used by nine-year-olds and 90-year-olds alike—even though the founder created the line to assist his wife, who had developed rheumatoid arthritis.
Pirkl coined the term “transgenerational design” in the early ’80s during his research tenure at Syracuse University’s gerontology center with a goal of creating homes that work well for everyone—from toddlers to people with temporary disabilities to the elderly. To prove his point, and to accommodate himself and his wife as they age, Pirkl designed and built a 2,700-square-foot house that incorporates all the practical elements he’s been preaching for the past 20 years.
Pirkl’s home is a perfect showplace for his ideas and ideals. He used mostly standard fittings and off-the-shelf products to show that it’s not so much about special products, it’s more about using basic products intelligently. In the kitchen, cork floors bounce and give underfoot, easing pain in aching backs. Cabinets are set ten inches off the floor, to minimize the need to bend down, and are fitted with easy-to-grip drawer pulls. Window coverings are remote-controlled, toilets are wall-mounted for ease of cleaning, and adjustable-height sinks are used to accommodate both 6'1" Pirkl and his 5'4" wife.
Rather than becoming a limitation, then, well-designed homes for seniors could actually help push the boundaries of current building styles and force architects and designers to think outside traditional modernist norms. As Dutch architect Paul de Ruiter points out, “Elderly people and modern architecture fit together very well. Boomers have the interest, ambition, intellect, and money to move architecture forward and to incorporate the needs of the elderly in such a way that it is an invisible, integrated part.”
Long, lean, and placidly aware of its own beauty, the house that de Ruiter built for Henk Deys and Jeanne Deys-Trijssenaar near the Rhine River in the Netherlands stands as testament to this statement. It incorporates wide doors and corridors in case wheelchair use becomes necessary in the future. For ease of use, everything is remote-controlled, from the curtains and lamps to sliding doors and sunscreens. In addition, the homeowners’ love of swimming has been accommodated with an indoor pool whose depth is shallow enough for wheelchair access. Even the seamless polyurethane floors function beyond aesthetics, providing grip for crutches and an easy-to-clean surface.
Another good example of innovative senior design is a home in Minneapolis for a retired dancer and a media owner. Instead of the usual stereotype of a low-slung ranch with grab bars throughout, architects Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle remodeled a downtown loft to fit the couple’s aging needs. Open shelving both looks good and allows quick access to contents. Bathroom faucets have adjustable spouts, and medicine cabinets are shallow so that medications can be easily viewed. There’s even a guest bedroom intended one day to be transformed into a room for a health-care assistant, should the need arise.
What does all of this prove? That there are possibilities for well-designed homes that incorporate the needs of a changing, aging population while challenging architects and designers to learn new methods and styles of creating appealing spaces. “It’s not about categorizing limitations, but exploring ways that design can either exacerbate or minimize a sense of aging,” states Fletcher.
Ultimately, however, there will be little supply of such alternatives unless there is stated demand. As Pirkl says, “The more people ask for such services and designs, the more attention will be paid. It has to happen from the bottom up, not from the top down.”
