A Different Approach to Senior Living Design to Better Appeal to the Next Generation

November 7 | 3-4pm ET | Earn 1 AIA LU/HSW

Description

Traditional senior living design is typically immediately recognizable and tends to “look like senior living,” even from afar. The next generation of seniors is different from those we currently serve, and their wants/needs and motivations can vary greatly from what we typically offer. This session will present seven specific guiding principles to create a senior living product that looks and feels like cool mixed-use or connected village living and is able to provide the types of experiences and intergenerational connections this next generation desires. Presenters will show site plans and photos of both traditional as compared to projects that employed these principles and show how to best incorporate these principles using an experience-based versus program-based master planning and charrette process.

Learning objectives

• Understand the hallmarks of traditional senior living design and its impact on wholistic wellness
• Identify ways in which the next generation of seniors is different from those we currently serve and their outlook on mental and physical health
• Discuss why the “7 Dimensions of Wellness” may need to be replaced or augmented by a “7 Dimensions of Meaning” to guide design and operations for this next generation
• Explore why traditional design does not best create the types of experiences the next generation of seniors wants in senior living. Health, Dining, Wellness, and wholistic view of the person and purpose
• Learn seven guiding design principles to create the purposeful healthy lifestyle and the holistic experience the next generation of seniors’ desires

Speakers


Craig Witz
Principal, Witz Company

Craig Witz, the principal of Witz Company, has more than 30 years of successful seniors living development experience. Before forming Witz Company in 2002, he served as a senior development manager with both regional and national senior living development firms. He has led the redevelopment and reinvention of many existing non-profit senior living CCRCs and Life Plan communities as well as the development of greenfield communities. He has worked on projects ranging from urban high-rise, suburban pocket neighborhoods to rural affordable housing projects. Craig has written articles on senior living for national publications and recently released a whitepaper titled “Creating an Intergenerational Experience in Senior Living; Seven Guiding Design & Operations Principles.” He is a member of LeadingAge Wisconsin and is a licensed attorney. Craig Witz is based in Madison, Wisconsin.



Vassar Byrd
CEO, Rose Villa Senior Living

Equipped with a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics, Vassar began her career as an economist, working in Washington, DC and Portland, Oregon. After ten years in the field, she chose to change her career entirely for the opportunity to work in nonprofit senior living. She obtained a master’s degree in gerontology from Naropa University and became CEO of Rose Villa, a not-for-profit CCRC, in 2006. Bringing both financial rigor and resident-directed perspective to her work, she focuses on building partnerships with residents to create vibrant, emotional, social, and physical environments.