The mission of the AIA Design for Aging (DFA) Knowledge Community is to foster design innovation and disseminate knowledge necessary to enhance the built environment and quality of life for an aging society. This includes relevant research on characteristics, planning and costs associated with innovative design for aging. In addition, DFA provides outcome data on the value of these design solutions and environments.
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Strategies for Safer Senior Living CommunitiesThis resource includes strategies for dining facilities, amenity spaces, and individual units. Download >
Craig WitzPrincipal, 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 ByrdCEO, 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.