How to design a flat for the elderly.

It’s important to have some large groups of impairments in mind for every design aspect. These are dementia or other cognitive impairments, visual and hearing impairments and physical problems with fragility, walking problems and muscle or joint weakness.
First of all I will focus on the exterior. There is no meaning to design a flat for elderly that have obstacles like steps to enter the flat. There should be elevator access if it’s not on the first floor and there should be a ramp instead of stairs. The lack of stairs is to avoid separating people who can use stairs from people who can’t.
The design of the door is crucial as well and I’ll start with describing a good design that works for these categories.
The key for the facility should be a RFID brick in a small design that can be easy to fit where the user want to store it. However it should be available in the form of a traditional key as well since people suffering from cognitive impairments should have help to understand that it is a key.
Normally in facilities now days they place the RFID key reader next to the door but it’s more common to have the actual key hole below the handle. Since we want to include people with cognitive problems we want to place the key reader below the handle to reduce the need of looking for it.
The key reader itself should have background light, have an simple symbol of a key, be large and have a high contrast so it’s easy to see. When unlocked the door should open at the direction away from the user.
The door itself should be light and easy to push open. The door handles should be large push handles and the door should open both ways.
My idea of the entrance design is partly that it should feel like a natural door for the users but without the drawbacks that can comes with a door. There is other solutions that should be considered as well, for example letting the user bring a key brick with them all the time that notice if the person is close to the door.
When the brick is close to the door it can open automatic but that means the user loses a small part of control that I think can be very important for someone suffering from dementia or similar diseases
The next issue is transportation from the entrance door to the flat. The problems I believe is good to focus on here is the need of support and not to have any hindrance in the way.
Because of this I suggest using railings at the wall so the people can get support all the way to the apartment door. There should be an elevator that can be used to access other floors and light in the hallway should be strong and automatically switched on when there is people in the hallways. For fire safety most countries require stairs but they could be leave disabled people out of the other group choose the stairs instead of the elevator. The stair house should have an lightweight fire door closed to make people not choose using it too much.
The design of the flat it self is the next issue.
The flat should resemble a normal apartment as much as possible and have an open design. There should be distinct rooms, like a bedroom, living room and kitchen.
The bathroom could be designed with the current aid systems that are available for people with disabilities but the appearance should be customized for the owner of the flat.
For example there should be alarm buttons at floor level in case someone slips on the floor and it should be possible to fold down support rails to easily get to the toilet, however these features should be designed to look like a part of the apartment, not like they belong to a hospital. Of cause the design should make it easy to clean it as well. An electronic system can make sure that the light is on in the bathroom when someone is using the bathroom.
The kitchen should be designed as a modern kitchen so that there is no need to bend down to open an oven hatch or reach something in a cabinet.
If the flat owner want they should be able to use some kind of visual feedback of what is in each drawer, like labels to get a overview of where things are.
No furniture should have sharp corners and there should be timers for or electronics that make sure that for example the coffee machine is not left on to long.
The living room should not have cables on the floor.
There should be a communication device in the apartment where the owner can contact a community central if they need help with something.
Depending on the user the flat could be alarm buttons in all rooms, robot vacuum cleaners, furniture that works as standing support, doors, key-finder systems and so on.

I choose to not talk about the internal design to much since it’s very induvidual and I believe there is a lot of tools already invented and in use for the corresponding need.

Assignment 3 – Designing for the Elderly

While life is full of surprises, one thing that we know for sure is that we all will age and become elderly one day. Since more people prefer to remain at home for as long as possible there are several adjustments that has to be made in order to be able to adapt age with the home environment. Therefore, it is crucial to have knowledge about universal design.

The main idea behind universal design is to embrace accessibility and exclude as few concerned groups as possible through clever innovations and broad-spectrum thinking. By excluding the smallest amount of people possible regardless of potential limitations, whether it would be abilities connected to a particular impairment, or age, one has good conditions to develop society and services in a way that is adapted to the population as a whole.

When designing for elderly, there is an extremely important factor to keep in mind: there exist no such thing as a “mean senior” citizen. Just like with various impairments, seniors all have different capacities and needs. Does this make it more difficult when designing in a more universal manner? Partially yes, because developing a supportive tool or making a home adjustment might fit elderly with specific age-related impairments and/or diseases, but might be an obstacle for others. Imagine two such persons living together, and we have identified why universal design is so important. Stated above that there is no mean senior with identical needs there is, however, a common opinion among elderly in wanting to be able to live independently.

An important step when adapting and designing homes to fit elderly is to make sure that some essential requirements such as reliability, safety, usability and supportiveness are fulfilled and processed.  Additionally, closely related to universal design comes the importance of avoiding design that could cause stigmatization, i.e., that elderly people do not want products that make them look old.

Focusing on the concrete needs when adapting the home, one thing to keep in mind is that small things really matter in everyday life. For instance, many houses and apartments use thresholds to “connect” the lower corner of doors with the floor. For a relatively young person, living without certain impairments that obstruct their ability to walk, these steps are not a big issue. For elderly, on the other hand, it can be very troublesome and even dangerous, especially if the entire home is covered with them. In addition, doors should all be wide enough to be able to pass through with supportive tools such as wheelchairs, walkers and strollers.

Tripping is one of the most common accidents that occur among elderly and should, of course, be given much attention. A useful way to prevent this is to avoid using slippery surfaces wherever possible, especially in environments that tend to get wet such as kitchens and bathrooms. Today, there exist many different kinds of anti slip floors and solutions that will still provide friction even though the surfaces may be covered in (a reasonable amount of) water.

Anti slip floor to avoid slippery surfaces

Bathrooms, as mentioned, are high-risk areas in peoples homes since slippery floors along with hard bathroom accessories could cause severe injuries. A place that is particularly insecure is, of course, showers and bathtubs. Since many elderly might have difficulties moving parts of their body and will not be stand up for a very long time, which will cause issues when using this kind of equipment. To reduce these risks, bathtubs and showers could be supplied with anti slip mats and foldable seats.

Design ideas like the one’s proposed in this report are just a small selection of a more universal type of thinking that certainly could help elderly in their everyday life. What makes these solutions exceptionally applicable and universal is the fact they apply to a wider user diversity and could easily become new “standards” in society. This is an important aspect since supportive tools, if designed with an institutional look, most likely will cause stigmatization among their users, which is very closely related to usability and user experience. While tools might be usable, what is the point of providing them if users do not feel comfortable using them?

To conclude, by providing solutions that appeal to a broader audience that assist anybody regardless of age along with being both usable and appealing to utilize, elderly will hopefully be more secure in their home and feel much better about them aging.

/Marcus Enderskog

Assignment 3 – Designing for the elderly

With this assignment I believe that a key sentence could be found in the description; “Discuss how to design a flat in a home for elderly people, so that it can support an old person from an early stage to a late age (with possible impairments)”. The part of the sentence that I’m thinking about is the “with possible impairments” part. Designing for the elderly is such a big task of it’s own without knowing anything about the possible impairments. I think that it’s important to stress that you are designing something for an individual, a person. The needs of the individual could very much from the needs of the overall group. Should you therefore design a flat that takes care of every single need even though most features would be considered unnecessary for most? The needs could of course change over time which would be an argument for covering all needs.

Another key sentence is “so that it can support an old person” which tells me that the flat is a support tool and not a complete solution. A design can’t possibly cover all needs one might have. The most obvious one being the social interaction one might have with staff from the nursing home. So the flat should therefore support the elderly with the communication and the human contact as a part of the solution.

To get one thing straight, the task is to design a flat in a home for elderly people. Therefore I assume that their is a proper way to get to this flat. There should be elevators and other support systems for people that have a hard time walking, seeing or have other types of impairments. The start of this design process should also include user studies with real users doing interviews and observations.

The design of the “support” in the flat should be well integrated with the overall appartement. It should be like visiting anyone to avoid stigmatization. Let’s start with a room with a lot of potential for danger if you are getting older; the bathroom. Falling down is a serious problem and the main place for falls is in the shower, the bathtub or the wet floor. A bathtub isn’t probably the best solution with a high threshold that one needs to get over every time. A shower could therefore be a better alternative. Then there should be handles to hold on to and stickers on the floor so it won’t get slippery. The safety rail should not look like a safety rail rather be a well integrated part of the overall shower. There should also be a fold out seat in a nice design that could easily be folded in and cleaned. There should of course also be a shower head support in multiple positions. The design should be such that it could be used for all people without the need for adaptation.

When it comes to design to support, it could be the simplest changes that makes the biggest difference. If you take the laundry machine for instance. The design should be so that it’s easy to load and unload it. In most cases the hatch is on the top or on the side. This would force the user to bend their knees or their back in order to load and unload the laundry. If you put the hatch in between instead, bending the design of the machine. Then it would be easier to use for all.

As I said before, the details are very important. Thinking about peoples possible impairments one might forget about a simple thing such as a doorknob. These could actually be bad for your hands if you have arthritis or other similar conditions. Replacing the doorknobs with levers could therefore help to improve a home.

Not to focus too much on a specific room, all rooms should have non slippery floors. Eliminating trip points like thresholds or reduce their height is another step for making the floors less dangerous. With falls being a very serious problem I would recommend the design to be a one level solution without stairs. A connected issue is the size of the doorways. To adapt to all scenarios the design for the doorways should be so that they are big enough for a wheelchair to pass through. The space in the different rooms, especially in the bathroom should be so that a wheelchair could make a complete turn. Making sure the doors and the floors are proper are an important step to a safer home, but the lightning is also important to consider. All areas of the flat should be well lit in order to avoid falls. Talking about floors, carpets might be a bad idea because they could be potential fall triggers.

I think that it’s once again important to stress that the most important thing is to support resident’s need to maintain independent. Then you need to think about what their everyday lives consists of. I’ve already discussed the importance of the bathroom and that is of course a part of everyones everyday life. Another important everyday routine is eating and preparing lunch and dinner. Memory might be a issue with increasing age. Putting on a pot of water could be something that you forgot that you did. Then there is a need to support people’s memory to aid them in the kitchen. There should therefore be some kind of alarm to help the resident to remember that they are using the stove. Could the resident put on a pot of water? Is the height of the workspace appropriate, even for a seated resident? The important appliances such as a microwave should be easy to reach as well. Is the cooktop safe to use with controls at the front with lights to indicate if they are hot or not.

The dining area is also important to consider. The table should accommodate a wheelchair. The chairs should be both steady and easy to move with easy access for sitting. The table shouldn’t have to sharp edges either.

Another thing that everyone does no matter the age is to sleep. The bedroom is therefore a very important room to consider. Is the bed adjustable in height? Making a solution where the bed is adjustable in height would suit the needs of many. Using a bedstead with smooth corners instead of sharp ones could be a good idea. The sharp corners might look nice but could be a danger for people with limited vision or when the room is dark. Speaking of a dark room, there should be light controls within easy reach. The lights should also be able to control from the bed. A good idea might be to have a stationary phone close to the bed in case of emergency. A steady bedside table close to the bed could be a good support for getting in and out of the bed. Another good idea for the bedroom would be a automated system for closing the blinds on the windows.
The living room is another room that you spend a lot of time in. The placement of the furniture in this room should support moving around in a safe way. That includes residents in a wheelchair. Are there cords and wires that are in the way? The design should hide these in the best way possible to prevent falls. Controlling the lights and the blinds in this room is also important for the visuals and having a automated system for this could be a smart solution.

Cognitive impairments is also an important issue to consider. The flat should therefore be logically designed and support clear sight lines to destinations. If the livingroom is connected to the kitchen, the path to the destination is more clear.

When you start to think about it, there are many important aspects to consider. But I would like to stress the fact that user studies could help to find out more about the residents and their needs. An important part of the design should also be to avoid stigmatization. Making design decisions that affect details such as door handles and floor types avoid stigmatization and has a great impact for a safer home.

Designing for Elderly – Assignment 3

In order to discuss how to design a flat in a home for Elderly people, I will discuss a more general designs that can be used in different rooms. Some of the designs will discuss specific impairment. 

General designs

Ground floor or Elevator: To easily enter and exit, the entrance have to be on the ground level. Having an elevator is also a solution but less effective. It takes longer time and includes having to go through more doors to be able to reach home. The mobility decrease with age and later on they might get tools to help them move around like a walker or a wheelchair.

Electronic keys: The door lock should be able to unlocked by having a card or a jewelry looking key that can be used as a necklace. There are many reasons why it is a good idea. Bad vision, shaky hands, bad memory(forgetting keys) and in case of emergency. If the user have a bad vision or is completely blind and/or have shaky hands it will be hard to find the right key and then trying to fit the key in the keyhole. If the resident is having a bad memory issues the jewelry looking key will be harder to loose and is very easy to access. For emergency, if in case of fire in the flat the doors will be unlocked for people outside the flat can get access and help if needed. There are many emergencies that can occur such as, heart failure, key lost, fall from electric wheel chair and unable to move. There are many benefits of having an electronic key as an elderly.

Bigger and less doors and no door steps: To able to move around freely in the flat the doors should be wide enough specially if the tools that is used to move outside will be used also inside the flat. Removing the door steps will benefit all kind of impairments I can think of in meaning of movement in the flat.

Lights: Smart lights have been introduced for some years now. They are connected to the internet and can be modified to give different color of light when something specific happens. For example, if someone is ringing on the doorbell outside it could show a yellow light as a indicator in the living room and will aid elderly with decreased hearing ability to know that. It also good idea to use if someone in the flat is sick or sleeping and do not want to be disturbed by the sound of the doorbell. Smart lights have many possibilities in a home of an elderly. Everything from notification to take medicine, someone is calling, fire alert and appointment reminders. For people with decreased or no vision a speaker

“Children safe” environment: By having rounded corners, it is safer to move around. Specially if the resident is blind. The same goes for having a children safe wall socket. One case could be that small children put their fingers in the wall socket and get electrified and if the person is blind he/she will not be able to see it and stop it. Could also prevent people with cognitive impairments for example from putting forks in the wall socket.

Open landscape: This idea is to try having the whole flat as an open area. A person standing in the kitchen should be able to see into the living room. It easier to communicate with each people living or visiting the flat. Open spaces is also used to decrease the stress level.

Containers: The containers of in different rooms in the flat should have a minimum and maximum height to make it easier for elderly to reach stuff. Age will limit the mobility and people get shorter because of the bending of the back which will look like getting shorter.

Internet of things: More devices are getting connected to the internet. But its also no easy for elderlies to control this kind of technology. So I am supposing that the elderlies should be able to operate the devices but also relevant people can control and monitor those devices. It will make children of the elderlies see how they are doing and if something unexpected happens to any device they might be able to help by using for example the mobile phone application.

Labeling: For elderly many aspects will weaken and the memory can also be affected by age. In order to help elderly with bad memory, containers in the flat can be labeled. It will also be useful when someone visits to find tools quickly in the kitchen. Big labels might be needed if the resident have a bad vision.

Furniture and toilets : The furniture’s should support the limited movement that comes with age. For example a lot of the elderly have trouble getting up from a seat. It should be designed in a way to make it easier to stand up. It could be done by adding handles used to grab and get up by using the arms or furniture’s that lift the user up gently(Lift Chairs).

As a conclusion. I think there is endless possibilities to design for elderlies. The impairment that is affected by age are pretty much well known which make it easier to design for.

Designing for the Elderly in a Universal Design Context

Discussed here are methods of how a flat (or apartment) can be designed in order to accommodate an old person from an early stage to a late age (allowing for possible impairments).

Home design considerations for the elderly are generally specialist for that age group. Once an individual enters old-age it is commonplace that their home will require both an extensive and expensive refit for the owner to adapt to the weakening state of their body. Failing that, the other option is that they move to an apartment with the correct facilities (retirement community).

There are a number of factors to consider for the development of the body of an aging human being. The suggestions are split, room-by-room, into the main factors influencing the design:

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Mobility and strength

• Widespread
  • Wide doors
    • Width to allow access for conventional wheelchairs to enter.
    • Also allows access for individuals that can be classed as extremely obese.
  • Doors not carrying huge weight
    • Heavy doors may be harder to open at an older age, due to the physical body weakening.
  • No steps
    • Anyone is able to enter the apartment, no matter what possible impairment.
    • A level floor design makes every part of the apartment accessible.
  • Open plan
    • where it does not invade on privacy, making less obstacles to go through increases accessibility.

• Entrance
  • Lift access to door of apartment for buildings more than one storey
    • As mobility decreases during aging, taking flights of stairs becomes increasingly difficult. If an individual weakens to the point of not being able to pick up their feet appropriately, then a lift will come in to greatly assist being able to enter and leave the apartment; similarly, should a person develop an impairment restricting use of their legs and a wheelchair is needed.
  • Sensor-activated entrance locks
    • For persons with diseases such as ALS or Parkinson’s, a sensor activated lock will save having to align a key into a small slot without total control of their arm movements.

• Bedroom
  • Bedside table
    • Offers support for getting in and out of bed.
  • Storage and managing space
    • Not overcrowding the space within the room; enough room given to move around (consideration for walking frames and wheelchairs).
    • Closet storage being at mid-level, with easy pull-down rails to store items higher but to access at the same level.

• Bathroom
  • Shower
    • A shower should be considered over installing a bath, as it is step-in step-out with no lifting of body weight required.
    • Basket for wash items hung at mid-height on the shower to avoid stretching to the floor and shifting balance.

• Kitchen
  • Storage
    • Not overcrowding the space within the room; enough room given to move around (consideration for walking frames and wheelchairs).
    • Cupboard storage being at mid-level, with easy pull-down rails to store items higher but to access at the same level.
  • Appliances
    • Placing voids below the work surface instead of using it all for storage allows access for people in wheelchairs to cook and use the sink, other appliances situated on the work surface, e.g. toaster, kettle, coffee machine.
    • Switch for cooker hood extraction fan at mid-level.
    • Waste disposal unit. Less carrying out the trash, less heavy lifting and trip hazards.

• Lounge
  • Furniture
    • Not overcrowding the space within the room; enough room given to move around (consideration for walking frames and wheelchairs).
    • Placing furniture within proximity to grab on to, to reduce risk of a dangerous fall at an elderly age.
  • Appliances
    • No trailing wires. No trip hazards.

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Perception

• Widespread
  • Large high-contrast door handles with locks at mid-height
    • Larger door handles at high contrast compared to the the finish of the door make the object clearly visible assists for reduced vision, a common impairment developed at old age.

• Entrance
  • Making apartment numbers more visible
    • Larger, high-contrast number signs to the apartment can assist visibility.
    • Braille signs accompanying the number sign.
  • Sensor-activated entrance locks
    • No issues with finding keys.
    • No issues with aligning the key into a small slot.
  • Large prickled entrance mat
    • If house customs are that shoes are to be taken off before the rest of the house is accessed, having a distinct entrance zone which gives sensory feedback is the most indicative of separating these areas.
• Bedroom
  • Contrast furniture with floor
    • Using a high difference in color contrast from the floor surface presents objects more readily in the room. This can be especially useful to people with yellowing vision, cataracts, glaucoma.

• Bathroom
  • High contrast toilet seat
    • Using a high contrast toilet seat from the rest of the toilet and floor surface makes finding the toilet seat a great deal easier even with deteriorating eyesight.
  • High contrast shower step
    • Using a high contrast step from the rest of the shower and floor surface reduces the amount of falls it can produce substantially by becoming more visible.
  • LEDs with a temperature sensor in the wash basin tap changing the color of the water whether it be hot or cold. Could avoid scalding if the person has nerve damage.

• Kitchen
  • High contrast sideboard
    • Using contrasting appliances and kitchen utensils to be easy seen when placed upon work board.
    • Could be made digital, creating augmented border around items.
  • Different grips
    • By using different textures on utensil grips, it is easier to recognize whether the person has indeed picked up the correct utensil.
  • Backlit oven
    • Clearly see how the state of the food being cooked.
  • Transparent toaster
    • Make sure the toast isn’t burnt.
  • Kitchen sink
    • LEDs with a temperature sensor in the tap changing the perceived color of the water.

• Lounge
  • Speakers placed near the seating
    • With gradual hearing loss there is a tendency for the elderly to have the television or radio on excessively loud so they can hear what is on. Speakers placed near the seating reduce the noise level requirement for the seated to hear.

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Cognition

• Widespread
  • Recognizable objects
    • Objects that are hidden or are disguised as part of something else can create confusion upon memory loss. It is better to keep something simple and recognizable.

• Entrance
  • Self-locking door
    • Door is locked from the outside, but can be opened from the inside.
    • Alarm if the door is left open for a long amount of time. Useful with memory loss.
  • Video intercom
    • Shows who is outside the door on the buzzer being pressed.
    • Safety conscious as the elderly are more at risk of fraud and doorstep burglary.

• Bedroom
  • Window blinds on a timer
    • Using window blinds on a timer can help against confusion of the current time, particularly useful in parts of the world with midnight sun.
    • Helps maintain healthy daily rhythm.

• Bathroom
  • Self-flushing toilet
    • Flushes on the user getting up. Keeps toilet hygienic if the user forgets to flush.
  • Water-level sensing bath and wash basin
    • If a bath or wash basin is closing to be over the limits of its capacity, the water stops. The person could be preoccupied with something else or simply have forgotten.
  • Electrical sockets do not provide power if water is being used or can be measured to be in use from the basin/bath
    • This is safety conscious planning and will stop disaster from happening if there is some cognitive lapse disassociating the relationship of electricity and water.

• Kitchen
  • Oven turns off after an hour of non-interaction
    • Light turns off in cooker. Alarm indicates cooker has gone off.
    • This is to avoid fires by slip of memory or other cognitive issues.
  • Water-level sensing sink
    • If the sink is closing to be over the limits of its capacity, the water stops. Saves flooding the kitchen if the resident moves on to focus on other things and forgets about it.

• Lounge
  • Reducing the amount of remote controls.
    • Less remotes, less things to learn and remember.
  • Doorbell notification on the television
    • If the doorbell rings the TV indicates someone is at the door. It could even display the video intercom feed.
    • Tries to indicate the experience of watching the TV show as separate from something that needs to be dealt with in the real world, i.e. “the door bell sound is not part of the television programming”.

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Listed here has been an attempt to introduce universal design of an apartment, which is supportive  to the resident throughout aging and developing potential impairments.

As a person ages it is common to deny the weakening state of the body; a home with the features described here would provide the confidence to show that the person’s life as they know it is still accessible and does not necessarily need to have drastic changes to adapt to their aged or impaired state.

The suggestions and reasonings put forward have been thought-out to give as little stigmatization as possible whilst providing support in areas of difficulty found in a standard flat built today; all of the ideas were considered with an aesthetic design basis in mind. There is ample room to improve apartment facilities without making the residence look institutional, but instead making them perfectly modern and conventional.

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Recommended reading:

• http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/03/health/bracing-for-the-falls-of-an-aging-nation.html
• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/science/a-tiny-stumble-a-life-upended.html

Design for older people, design for everyone

Today, life expectancy has increased drastically and the birth rate has declined sharply. This phenomenon brings about a shift in demographics, leading to an aging population [2]. Therefore, consideration of the ageing population from the perspective of a society is needed in order not to exclude them. That’s the truth that we are getting older at every moment, but as we forget that fact that we will become an old person and we might need an aid or a support due to the inconvenience caused by aging, we don’t care old adults’ difficulties in the present. Of course, it would be different depending on an individual, but generally most of us would encounter the situation at some future day. The problems what older people face now make them hard to lead a life. The reason why we need to solve the problems and the difficulties at the moment is not only for the sake of old people’s successful aging today but also our future lives.

“All is not as it seems” 

One of the biggest problem what people have is stigmatisation effect of aging. Even if older people are not as weak as they seem, they are often regarded as a homogenous group who has a high probability of disease and disease related-disability and a low level of physical and cognitive functioning [2]. Since people have such a misconception, when people reach at a certain age, they cannot keep their daily lives and social activities any more against their will, e.g. retirement from the job. For that reason, when people are getting older, they don’t want to be considered old people and show their age and weakness.

There are common issues related to age 

One of the aging problems is cognitive functioning problem. As people grow older, age-related memory loss could happen easily, namely, they are becoming more forgetful. And also recovery ability could decrease with age. Another problem is perceptual weakness such as loss of hearing or macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss in those aged over 50 [3]. The weak muscle strength, the weight-bearing bones and the movable joints take much wear and tear as the body ages, thus older adults can get easily sick and be physically weak and therefore have limitations of performing tasks [3]. Those changes can result in an inconvenience of doing activities of daily living unlike what they once did without problems. Against their will, tools or application might be needed to make up for those with decreased ability to perform. Consequently, an older individual’s independence might be reduced. The independence factor is quite important in terms of increasing life satisfaction. There might be no one who does not want to manage one’s personal life (e.g., shopping, banking, doing house chores, etc.) by one’s own efforts. No one wants to be a burden to others (family or friends).

Design for a flat in a home should be like this 

The surrounding environment can influence older adult’s everyday life as properties of the space can increase or decrease functional limitations of older people by creating or removing barriers to daily tasks [2]. The home as a basic environment should be the space that everyone can access and use without any specialised adaptation at any age [2]. For that reason, the home should be designed to satisfy every member’s needs and to access to the resources easily and independently. A comprehensive understanding of universal design, thus, is needed to take those factors into account in the design process. The universally designed home can provide the potential to increase the ease of use the facilities of the house, thereby all the people who live at home can complete activities of daily living without stigmatisation effect [2].

In order to design a flat in a home for every member at home, some features should be considered according to the universal design principles. And also communication with older adults during the design process to ensure an understanding of diversified needs of the population would be necessary.

Moving 

The entry to the home had better be a slight slope rather than stairs, to be approached by people with diverse abilities. The slight slope can be used efficiently and comfortably with a minimum physical effort by an older person who has weak muscle or a person in a wheelchair.

The design for a flat in a home should focus on activities rather than the age of people. If dining, bathing and sleeping all take place on one floor, the accessibility to the daily activities can be increased and the effort to go up and go down would be disappeared.

The hallway of the house should be wide enough to make it easy for wheelchairs, rollators, walkers and strollers pass through [1]. The appropriate size and space of the hallway can provide accessible approach and ease of use of different individuals who have a wide range of preferences and abilities.

Bathing 

Bathing is one of the most private daily things, what people can do at home. Even a person in a wheelchair doesn’t want to show his/her naked body to others. It is important to consider the aspect that people should be able to take a shower alone. For having a shower without help, there must be no threshold walk-in shower to enter easily. And also a little bit slight slope that allows water to flow into a gutter would be helpful to use the shower by anybody. The floor of the shower should not be slippery to avoid fall so the texture of the floor is considered as well.

Dining 

It ensures that the kitchen meets the needs of all people as well. Cooking, setting food, and having a meal for themselves is needed in order to assure that they can manage their personal lives without other’s help or difficulties. Like other activities of daily living, the kitchen should satisfy the diverse user’s needs, capabilities and expectations through the universal design thinking.

The height of kitchen can be manipulated to make it easy for standing and seated users, and people of varying heights use it. For example, the countertop should be varied so that everyone can have a place to work, regardless of their abilities to approach. If the kitchen is limited to reach a certain cabinet, various ways for approach should be allowed or provided. The door of facilities such as refrigerator, cabinet, or dishwasher should be designed to open with a little amount of power, but close firmly, e.g., by use of magnetic. People have different colors what they can see more clearly depending upon their ages, thus, using contrasting colors according to those colors, could be helpful to everyone, especially those who relatively have weak vision. The utensils or tools should be light enough so that everybody can use them with no low physical efforts.

The consideration about the basic activities of daily living based on universal design thinking seems to allow older adults to complete personal lives, preventing stigmatization and thereby will ease leading a life independently. Consequently the quality of life what they will have would be increased in a way.

[Reference]

1. Create living space perfect ageing home http://homecare.com/create-living-space-perfect-aging-home
2. Universal Design: A Step toward Successful Aging, Kelly Carr,1 Patricia L. Weir,1 Dory Azar,2 and Nadia R. Azar1 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/2013/324624/
3. Age-related Macular Degeneration http://www.patient.co.uk/health/age-related-macular-degeneration-leaflet