"An Elderly Friendly Life Workshop" Experience

Abstract

Architectural structures are formed and shaped according to social requirements. Nursing homes, which were referred to with negative concepts such as elderly dormitory and nursing home in the past, are now called geriatric life and care centers. Geriatrics is a health field that makes it possible for the elderly to receive the necessary support, treatment and adaptation to the diseases and changes that people face as they age. "Geriatric Life Centers" are also centers that provide housing for the elderly, provide solutions to health problems, and provide them with social and cultural activity areas. Undoubtedly, our task as architects is to design structures where elderly people can spend the last periods of their lives happily. For this purpose, it is aimed to design a care and living center where the elderly can feel at home and receive the necessary care and treatment at the Studio 7 Workshop in the Fall Semester of 2022-2023 under the direction of Asist. Prof. Zafer Kuyrukçu. In this study, student projects, architectural design process and final products of the 2023 Fall Semester-Studio 7 Workshop will be presented. Students were asked to design a ‘visitor-friendly’ elderly living and care center consisting of outdoor, semi-outdoor/semi-indoor and indoor spaces that are integrated with the environment, meet the individual and social needs of the elderly, provide rehabilitation services. Firstly, in the first weeks of the design process, in order to collect data on the subject and create a needs program, the development of geriatric life and care centers from past to present in our country and around the world was analyzed, and projects designed on this topic were read. Trips were made to the area for environmental analysis purposes, the connection between the land and the environment was analyzed, and the process was supported with in-class criticisms in the following weeks. The project process has been completed as two visas and final delivery. When looking at the projects produced at the end of the semester, it was seen that students approach the subject sensitively; they propose projects that are spatially adequate, connect with the environment, are visitor-oriented, offer areas where elderly people can socialize, integrated with nature.