37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 510HEALING FACTOR IN HOUSING DESIGN FOR ELDERLY –SINGAPORE PARADIGM FOR THE FUTUREDr Ruzica Bozovic–StamenovicDepartment of ArchitectureNational University of Singaporee-mail: akibsr@nus.edu.sgKey words: healing, homelike, elderly, assisted living, hospiceAbstractWith global concerns over ageing population new paradigm for appropriate housing forelderly becomes paramount. <strong>World</strong>wide decline in average hospital stay led to the idea ofhousing the elderly in healing ambiences to allow ageing in place. The acclaimed sanitogenicapproach to design, as opposed to conventional pathogenic, generate design solutions thatreach beyond sanitation, safety and sick building syndrome. The primary purpose of thisstudy is to trace healing design properties in new housing developments and proposals, and todiscuss their relevance for elderly.Our main objective is to demonstrate how aged users could benefit from new, paradigmatichousing spaces planned for developed, tropical Singapore. We focus our investigation onthree typical new housing clusters. First topic is elderly living in new, high rise-high densityhousing developments characteristic for extensive presence of greenery. We argue thatenvironmental features boost social life of mature inhabitants and prevent isolation. Secondcluster are spaces for assisted living and hospices, notorious for social controversies regardinghomelike ambiences. We point that universal guidelines need adjustment to specific climaticand cultural circumstances of the local context. The third cluster is local social housing,current home for the majority of elderly population. Here, the necessary reconstruction andupgrading of older estates open possibilities for creating health promoting spaces. Way ofachieving this is engagement of all senses and psycho-physical abilities through application ofspecific materials, colors, plants and other space features meant to physically and mentallystimulate and activate the elderly thus improving their health.In conclusion we argue that housing design for elderly has to contribute to their wellbeing byresponding to social, economic and aesthetic demands. With engagement of bio–technologiesand new, nature driven design features and building systems, housing thus represents morethan just a safe shelter and turns into a motivating healing device for new generation ofelderly.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 220