Our homes should be comfortable, should rejuvenate us, and they can make or break our capacity for resiliency. Designing for comfort goes far beyond material or FF&E decisions to include communal space, biophilic design, sensitivity to place and culture and history, even flexible spaces that adapt to fit each residents’ individual conceptions of home and relaxation.
Download Comfort now.
Looking Ahead
Ankrom Moisan’s Jeremy Southerland, Alissa Brandt, and Chris Ebert led a presentation at the 2021 LeadingAge California Virtual Conference to discuss the research and insights our team has uncovered that will have the biggest impacts on senior housing development in 2021 and beyond.
Three ways to improve senior housing design:
- Affordability – adapting to meet demand.
- Technology – revolutionizing senior communities.
- Wellness – a deeper connection.
Pre-pandemic demographic trends remain relevant and will affect development moving forward. Boomers continue to flood the marketplace with 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day; and this market surge will last until 2029. The demand continues, and the new things to pay attention to include affordability as well as a leap forward in technology, which ultimately impacts community wellness. Traditional models of retirement housing are no longer going to meet the market’s needs, and senior housing developers and planners will need to adapt to address the lack of affordable housing and embrace a surge in technology.
Looking at cross-market trends, there are a few things happening in other market sectors that will spill over into senior housing. As offices in urban cores reopen, high-value renters will also return. Seniors have been experiencing a sense of “bored in the ‘burbs’” and more of them are looking to relocate to vibrant, dynamic city centers, so senior housing planners should evolve their sites to address this desire. Hyper-localism is another insight we have seen accelerate as well as value-based spending, so expect seniors to look for the same things in their big purchases.
Shifting back to the development landscape environment, developers and clients are still being driven by their biggest concern: cost. The same lessons we have learned from affordable housing development can dramatically reduce costs and increase efficiency for senior housing communities. As we move ahead, we will continue to apply strategies for affordable housing so we can maximize our spend and have extra money left over for high-market-value items like elevated interior finishes, specialty amenities, or simply more affordable housing.
Creative partnerships and joint ventures are another major strategy we have seen successfully used to reduce operational costs and enhance service offerings. Built-in services and shared resources and amenities help create resident-focused communities which interact with the wider community. We also expect wellness to play an even larger role in design, landscaping, and architecture as residents look for more ways to socialize.
Technology and the rapid advancement of telehealth and telemedicine during Covid-19 will likely cause the biggest transformation of the senior community landscape. The emergence of creative healthcare models such as pop-up health centers and roving busses that bring services directly to residents will revolutionize senior housing, connect seniors to affordable programs, and eliminate the need to transport residents off-site. Infrastructure for virtual visitation (ranging from boosted bandwidth capacity to spaces designed specifically as “Zoom Rooms”) is finding its way into building programs.
With an increased access to and use of technology comes improved wellness, allowing seniors to stay better connected to healthcare providers, loved ones, and each other. This advancement, because of the pandemic, also means a shift in how developers see senior communities as healthcare coordinators, not just providers. This has forged a deeper connection and sense of community between staff and residents. Everyone is working together to keep residents safe and healthy.
Senior communities have needed to adapt to a rapidly changing world and have learned how to function when conditions are less than ideal. In the future, senior communities will look for even more ways to incorporate wellness into the entire design of a project, create flexible layouts, and use the latest in technology to provide an environment that helps seniors age in place comfortably.
Fitness is Integral to Wellness
The connections between exercise and overall wellness are well established—but how can we, as designers, create senior communities that encourage healthy movement for people of all physical abilities? How can we design fitness into residents’ everyday lives? These design insights reflect our solutions over decades’ worth of projects.
Download Fitness now.
Balancing Elements of Design with Light in Mind
With access to natural daylight, we’re sharper and happier during the day, we sleep better at night, and we recovery faster when we’re sick. To properly daylight indoor spaces, designers must balance glazing, climate, solar and thermal gain, external views, nighttime darkness, and many more interdependent factors—far more than simply adding extra windows.
Download Light now.
Vitality in the Village
Understanding the connection between a well-designed community and people’s overall resilience and health, our campus master plan for Mary’s Woods encourages residents to socialize with each other in a large-scale, pedestrian-centered village environment.
Download example here.
Approaching Air Quality Holistically
Fresh air and wellness are intrinsically connected. With ready access to fresh air, people are more alert, physically healthier, able to heal quicker, happier, and more relaxed. And indoors, constantly refreshed air is far safer than stale or poorly filtered air. Our insights explore how designing for fresh air is part of designing for resiliency in senior communities.
Download Air now.
Accommodation Around Dining
Sharing meals is essential to people’s social and emotional wellness. Our insights support safer communal meals in senior living campuses that can adapt to social distancing requirements. Spatial redundancies—multiple dining venues, for example—and operational flexibilities—like easily rearranged seating—enable safer, more diverse, and more resilient food services.
Download Nourishment now.
Senior Community Architecture and Interior Design
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Studio Overview
Geographic Markets
Studio Leadership
Thought Leadership + Case Studies
Studio Overview
Uplifting the experience of aging.
We create purposeful and sensitive environments built around living, human connection, lifestyle, and health; Welcoming places designed to support the entire spectrum of aging. We balance the visions of our partners with the needs of their residents to create a future where age-friendly environments are the baseline, and design removes barriers to aging above all else. Our highest ambition is finding collaborative solutions to create homes where people want to live, restaurants they want to eat at, and communities where they want to be.
Geographic Markets
Ankrom Moisan’s Senior Communities Studio and expertise operates from offices across the West Coast and Texas. While we are headquartered in Portland, Oregon, we have offices located in Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; and Austin, Texas. However, our Senior Community work extends into markets across the country.
Studio Leaders
Ryan Miyahira, Senior Communities Studio Co-Director, brings over 28 years of experience designing thoughtful, people-first environments that support aging with dignity and connection. Known for his steady leadership and deep commitment to client goals, Ryan helps create vibrant senior communities that are beautiful, functional, and deeply rooted in place. Darla Esnard, Senior Communities Studio Co-Director, also designs spaces and experiences that enhance everyday life, creating lasting client relationships alongside places of beauty. Her experience spans over 30 years of design, and her focus on senior housing means a project done well for the residents, the client, and the community.
Thought Leadership + Case Studies
Strategic Renovations for Aging Senior Communities
By leveraging Ankrom Moisan’s Senior Community Studio’s experience in repositioning and expanding existing Senior Living campuses, developers can take a phased, long-term approach to revitalizing aging senior communities while balancing the needs of current and future residents. With deep experience in senior community renovations, we specialize in seeing beyond existing limitations to reimagine and transform senior living spaces. Our team brings long-term vision to every project scale – whether refreshing interiors through strategic FF&E upgrades or repositioning an entire community.
Repositioning & Renovating Communities: Living Your Potential
Re-imagine your community expanding services and amenities for the current and next generation. For the active adult, those needing personal care services, and those that need specialized care, we design to Empower, Enrich, and Care.
Get to Know the Senior Communities Renovation Team
Designing renovations for senior communities is no easy feat. While this project type comes with a unique set of challenges, when done well it has a big impact on the quality of residents’ lives. Ankrom Moisan’s Senior Renovations Team knows this well. In this Q&A they explain what makes these projects special and what inspires them to do this work.
Designing Beyond Necessity
[Highlight the shift from “need-based” to “want-based” senior living and explore how high-end amenities, wellness-focused design, and hospitality-driven spaces are reshaping the industry and attracting residents earlier in their retirement journey.]
When it comes to dining, seniors’ tastes are evolving, which is impacting how senior living communities plan and design food and beverage amenities. Gone are the days of one large formal dining room – today’s seniors want variety and choice in both their dining venues and types of cuisine. Designing senior living facilities to incorporate flexible food and beverage spaces, balancing accessibility and aesthetics, and design elements that promote socialization is increasingly important.
Rest and Relaxation: Designing for Comfort
Senior communities should be comfortable, should rejuvenate, and can make or break the capacity for resiliency. Designing for the comfort of seniors goes far beyond material or FF&E decisions to include communal space, biophilic design, sensitivity to place and culture and history, even flexible spaces that adapt to fit each residents’ individual conceptions of home and relaxation.
Looking Ahead: The Post-COVID Landscape for Senior Housing
Ankrom Moisan’s Jeremy Southerland, Alissa Brandt, and Chris Ebert led a presentation at the 2021 LeadingAge California Virtual Conference to discuss the research and insights our team has uncovered that will have the biggest impacts on senior housing development in 2021 and beyond. Even though the demand continues, new things to pay attention to include affordability as well as a leap forward in technology, ultimately impacting community wellness. Traditional models of retirement housing will no longer meet the market’s needs, and senior housing developers and communities will need to adapt to a rapidly changing world. In the future, senior communities will look for more ways to incorporate wellness into the entire design of a project, create flexible layouts, and use the latest in technology to provide an environment that helps seniors age in place, comfortably.
Wellness and Active Adult Communities
[description: Discuss how wellness-focused design is becoming essential in senior living with an emphasis on active adult communities that promote mental physical, and social well-being. Highlight the integration of wellness features in both new developments and renovations.]
Wellness relies on constant attention with periodic adaptations. We design for wellness by finding opportunities to adapt while maintaining physical infrastructure, operations, and marketing.
We take a holistic approach that focuses on longevity, sustainability, and lasting relevance to create environments that transcend aesthetics. Rather than simply designing spaces for the present, we curate lasting experiences that prioritize resident well-being and craft quality interiors that have an enduring, timeless appeal.
Creating Active Environments within Senior Living Communities
Creating senior living communities with more ‘active adult’ opportunities for residents to engage in is a smart and viable option for many communities. This design concept helps motivate seniors to become more independent and active, encourages socialization among residents, and offers conveniences to staff members at facilities with ongoing staff shortages.
Vitality in the Village: Mary’s Woods
Understanding the connection between a well-designed community and people’s overall resilience and health, our campus master plan for The Village at Mary’s Woods encourages residents to socialize with each other in a large-scale, pedestrian-centered village environment.
Movement and Play: Fitness is Integral to Wellness
The connections between exercise and overall wellbeing are well-stablished. As the designers of senior communities, we have the chance to create senior communities that encourage healthy movement for people of all physical abilities by designing fitness into the everyday lives of residents.
Fresh Air: Approaching Air Quality Holistically
Fresh air and wellness are intrinsically connected. With ready access to fresh air, people are more alert, physically healthier, able to heal quicker, happier, and more relaxed. And indoors, constantly refreshed air is far safer than stale or poorly filtered air. Our insights explore how designing for fresh air is part of designing for resiliency in senior communities.
How Lighting Can Influence Resident Health and Wellness in Senior Care Settings
Lighting plays an important role in a building’s architecture, as it can enhance a space, create an aesthetic, and draw attention to different elements. But in senior care settings, lighting plays an even bigger role. When used strategically, lighting can influence resident health and wellness, as well as safety.
Balancing Elements of Design with Light in Mind
With access to natural daylight, we’re sharper and happier during the day, we sleep better at night, and we recover faster when we’re sick. To properly daylight indoor spaces, designers must balance glazing, climate, solar and thermal gain, external views, nighttime darkness, and many more independent factors – far more than simply adding extra windows.
Holden of Bellevue: Connected Senior Living
A growing trend in senior community design brings senior living back into urban centers from the suburbs while adding public programming to planning that – until recently – was exclusively private. Our design for Holden of Bellevue, which has received an INaward from the IIDA Northern Pacific Chapter for its community-focused design, focuses squarely on this priority. Every material, detail, and layout was intentionally crafted to foster community by connecting residents to each other, to their families, and to their city.
Intergenerational Communities
[description: We have firsthand knowledge and expertise in delivering these types of communities. Lots of industry and development interest and chatter around this topic. Mirabella ASU, Southern Oregon RFP, Higher Ed clients more interested in this area]
Designing the Next Generation of University-Based Retirement Communities
University-Based Retirement Communities (UBRCs) are redefining what it means to age well by bringing together students, faculty, and older adults in vibrant, intergenerational settings centered on learning, wellness, and purpose. Projects like Mirabella at Arizona State University (ASU) have already proven how powerful this model can be, where residents live steps from classrooms, share campus amenities, and engage in daily university life.
As household structures change and adapt, the trend toward multigenerational living has gained significant traction. This shift is driven by a combination of demographic changes, economic challenges, and shifting consumer preferences, according to the Urban Land Institute (ULI). For senior housing developers and architects, this presents a question – How can living environments accommodate the diverse needs of multigenerational households while enhancing the quality of life for older adults?