Blogs

Melinda Avila-Torio—A Calling for Compassion

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 14 days ago
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A Calling for Compassion Melinda Avila-Torio, NCIDQ, RID, CHID, CASP, LEED ® AP, IIDA, is an interior designer, focused on the full spectrum of senior living design. She is an active board member with the AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community. She also serves on the board for the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers. Additionally, she is on the Mentoring Committee with the Women in Healthcare Georgia Chapter. Melinda is a first generation Filipino and was born in Japan. When she was young, her family relocated to Philadelphia, then relocated again to Virginia Beach due to her father’s service in the Navy. Melinda’s career path was inspired ...
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Vanessa Shumate—A World of Experience

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 03-02-2024
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A World of Experience Vanessa Shumate was raised in a small town in northeastern Kentucky. She has always had a creative side and started early in life with a love for art. For a research project during her senior year of high school on a profession of her choice, she selected architecture, which sparked a newfound interest. At that time, she had a full ride scholarship to another university which did not have an architecture program. She made the decision that if she were to test into the University of Kentucky’s architecture program, which was limited to approximately 80 students at that time, she would pursue it. Through a twist of fate, she was selected, ...
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Susan Feeney—A Passion for Compassion

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 02-20-2024
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A Passion for Compassion Susan Feeney is an architect with Steele Group Architects, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Steele Group is primarily focused on multi-family housing and senior living, doing work throughout the Southeastern United States. Susan’s dream as a child was to become a residential architect. She would tour model homes for fun with her mom to feel inspired and dream of her own designs. These early dreams eventually paved the way to a career path in architecture, which began with the University of Texas at Arlington, which she attended for her undergrad and graduate degrees. After the completion of her undergraduate degree, she ...
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Claire Dickey—A Change of Heart

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 01-22-2024
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A Change of Heart Claire Dickey, AIA is Principal at HESTIA design collective , a small architecture and interior design firm in Middleburg, Virginia. Her original intent for her college journey was to pursue a pre-med major, however, because of her exposure to the architecture program, she fell in love with the creative process and pivoted, eventually graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Virginia. At the time of graduation, she was balancing the demands of new motherhood while also navigating the rigorous hours of her internship. She stated, “When I got pregnant young, I really thought my life was over. If there’s a piece of ...
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Alexis Burck—Equitable Leader

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 03-17-2023
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Equitable Leader Alexis Burck has a tenacious resolve to say when enough is enough and we can do better. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Alexis resides in the bay area of Oakland, CA with her family. Graduating from Carleton College with a B.A. in Studio Art in 2000, she taught art and danced professionally for a while prior to pursuing her masters in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley. After graduate school, Alexis’ work pursuits focused on high-end single-family homes and multi-tenant housing which took place during the 2008 financial crisis, all while starting her family. In her next role at a mid-sized firm, Alexis connected with a phenomenal mentor ...
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Helen Jadlowski—Design Architect

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 02-21-2023
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Design Architect Helen Jadlowski is deeply rooted in architectural design. She relates her design process to a game of chess with careful strategic moves across a site. As a design architect at SFCS Architects, she works in the early stage of design, focusing on scope and feasibility. Following graduation from Virginia Tech in 2011, she started a position in New Jersey, designing residential architecture. After working for two firms while based in New Jersey, Helen then moved back to Virginia continuing her focus in high-end residential architecture. As a result of this move, Helen sparked an interest in design for aging condominiums and subsequently ...
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Sarah Gregory—Getting it Done

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 11-28-2022
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Getting it Done Sarah Gregory is a vocal advocate in design for aging putting her expertise to good use. With an energetic and passionate personality, Sarah may appear modest, but her work is paving the way for future designers and industry leaders. A University of Arkansas alum, Sarah moved to the Carolinas in 2007. It is here where she first dipped her toe in the water with senior living design. Working for small, medium, and large firms, Sarah shares that she sees the best and most opportunities for individual growth in medium and small size firms. Focusing her attention and professional practice on senior living design, Sarah sought architecture firms ...
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Emily Pierson-Brown—Community Advocate

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 11-01-2022
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Community Advocate Emily Pierson-Brown is passionate about advocacy and community service. Harnessing this passion as fuel to her work, Emily has created a place for herself that encompasses her skills and sets her apart from the crowd. As a licensed architect and a licensed planner, she approaches every project with a unique perspective. Emily has a magnetic personality and a true desire to understand design goals impacting the end-user. A native of New Jersey and graduate from University of Virginia, Emily shared that following college, she did not go straight into architecture design. After working for Borders Books for 10 years, she began working for ...
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Cynthia Shonaiya—The Project Magician

By Megan Lorian Crites AIA posted 10-18-2022
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The Project Magician Cynthia Shonaiya’s project expertise runs from soup to nuts. As a multi-faceted, tenacious individual, Cynthia goes both broad and deep in her work. In 1997, Cynthia decided to plant her roots in Baltimore, after immigrating to the United States. She began her journey with a small architecture firm while pursuing her Master’s in Architecture. Several years later, she joined Hord Coplan Macht (HCM) and has been part of their team, growing their Senior Living design sector for the last 22 years. Serving as a principal, on the board of directors, and as an owner of HCM, Cynthia recalls that she “fell into” Senior Living design. She has ...
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Revisiting Design Philosophies for Desegregating Dementia Environments

By Claire G. Dickey AIA posted 07-06-2022
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Revisiting design philosophies for desegregating dementia environments By Justin Wolf This past April, the Design for Aging (DFA) Knowledge Community hosted an education session titled “ Design Philosophies for Desegregated Dementia Environments .” Among the key takeaways from this informative webinar, attendees were reminded of just how much progress has been made in the design of dementia-care environments over the last three decades. The pivot from institutional settings to more residential and home-like models is largely what has defined this progress, although larger systemic changes have also occurred as policy makers considered how towns and cities ...
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Enhancing the environment to engage social interactions

By Maggie Brown posted 07-16-2021
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Enhancing the environment to engage social interactions By Miao Jia It’s common to acknowledge that disconnectedness between older adults and their social context easily happens when they move into the unfamiliar environment of a long-term care community. Residents struggle with challenges of establishing new connections and potentially reduced amount of meaningful social interactions. As a salient predictor of health and mental well-being, sufficient social engagement is a crucial component that supports the successful aging of older adults. Thus, optimizing living environments to empower social engagement is a meaningful topic to explore for the senior ...
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Get Ready: Changes are coming to the 2022 FGI Guidelines

By Quinn A. deMenna AIA posted 04-30-2021
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The next edition of the Facility Guidelines Institute ’s Guidelines documents will be released in early 2022. Written as minimum standards, the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals ; Guidelines for Design and Construction of Outpatient Facilities ; and Guidelines for Design and Construction of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities are in final review by the 2022 Health Guidelines Revision Committee (HGRC), the 140-person volunteer body responsible for revising the documents. Updates to the Guidelines were proposed by the public in 2019 and reflect changes in healthcare technology, practice and design. Drafts of the 2022 ...
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An Oral History of Hurricane Harvey

By April Ward posted 04-30-2021
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Seniors seeking housing, health, and climate justice in the Gulf Coast, North America Introduction Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas during Hurricane season, August 2017, and left behind compounded devastation in the neighborhoods historically the most impacted by natural disasters and environmental injustice. In the city limits, Harvey damaged 148,413 single family homes primarily through flooding. Of those homes, 53% (78,659 households) were earning at or below 80% of the area median income for Houston and Texas. (HCD 2019) Families without savings, and seniors on fixed incomes, without home and flood insurance, were left teetering on the brink of permanent ...
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ONLINE TRAINING OF FACILITATORS IN INSPIRING & EMPOWERING SENIORS TO AGE IN PLACE SUCCESSFULLY

By Charles R. Durrett AIA Member Emeritus posted 09-16-2020
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In these COVID times, architect and pioneer of senior cohousing in North America, Charles “Chuck” Durrett (Durrett Architects) worries about seniors now more than ever. This is no time to be isolated. Seniors in cohousing are socially distanced but not socially isolated. Between Tai Chi twice per day, assisting each other with groceries, prescription drugs, safe and distant but fun meals together and hundreds of other things, seniors look out for each other in cohousing in these times. They help people most at risks minimize their exposure to COVID. Therefore, Chuck is more motivated than ever to get more seniors into cohousing, into the good times, and into ...
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Opinion: Why We Can't Ignore College-Based Senior Cohousing

By Charles R. Durrett AIA Member Emeritus posted 09-16-2020
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Opinion: Why We Can’t Ignore College-Based Senior Cohousing by Charles Durrett and Bernice Gonzalez of Durrett Architects. You need to build strong healthy relationships in good times, so you are ready for times such as these. And preferably relationships in a community that is very proximate - like a village; common dinners, common workdays, common problems to solve, tai chi, common gardening, book clubs, yoga, and just plain discussing the issues of the day, you know, old fashioned village making, so when the s _ _ t hits the fan, like COVID-19, community is in place! At Nevada City Cohousing, we get together each night at 7pm to drum, even if ...
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Our history

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
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1991: The Aging Design Research Program In 1991, a roundtable for some of the most influential providers, regulators, designers, and agencies involved in the design for aging industry was held at AIA Headquarters. The result of the two-day session, in which more than 75 individuals participated, was the creation of the Aging Design Research Program (ADRP) and the action agenda that has guided its activities since. 1996: A Center for Excellence: Design for Aging Center To expand its initiatives and outreach, the ADRP established a permanent operational home within the AIA as the Design for Aging Center. 2004: Design for Aging Knowledge Community The ...
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Research

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
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Data Mining Reports Insights and innovation is an initiative to evaluate and report on the substantial data collected from the Design for Aging Review, a bi-annual design competition. Beginning with the 9th cycle in 2008, data has been collected on a diverse range of distinguished senior living and care facilities located in the United States and internationally. The purpose of these research projects are to describe patterns and statistics from the data; and share the findings with architects. Visit the archive of DFA Review Awards to download the data and insights from a specific year. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) Resources Evaluator's Tool Kit ...
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DFA's past initiatives

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
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ADRP/American Occupational Therapists Association Joint Project In 1991, the ADRP was awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging. The grant was part of the administration’s Eldercare Campaign and focused on increasing awareness among architects, architecture faculty, and students of elder care issues as they affect design of the built environment. The major portion of the award was devoted to a joint project between the ADRP and the American Occupational Therapy Association, a booklet titled Design for Aging: Strategies for Collaboration between Architects and Occupational Therapists, published in 1993. The ...
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Our initiatives

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
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Our current initiatives Advocacy Design for Aging continues to advocate for, and actively participate in, initiatives to promote change to regulations that negatively impact the design of environments for older adults. Our participation in multiple task forces has created direct, positive outcomes on senior living and care environments as well as dialog between care providers, designers and regulators. To date, regulatory task force work has resulted in updates to the Life Safety Code to allow for more residential and home like environments. Task force efforts have led to the creation of a separate Facilities Guidelines Institute document for residential ...
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DFA Local and State Components

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
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While Design for Aging, a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects is a 3,000 member national organization based in Washington, DC, only a handful of members actually ever come face to face, but this is rapidly changing. Design for Aging has emerged in major metropolitan areas across the country represented by local AIA Components. Typically they meet monthly exploring a wide range of topics reaching a much broader constituency than experienced in the past. National conferences where DFA maintains a strong presence such as the LeadingAge (formerly American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging) and Environments for Aging ...
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