Growing (Up) Together: The design of small-scale youth care facilities

Youth care has undergone a significant transformation in 2015. Secure residential youth care is one of the areas that is currently experiencing difficulties as a result. Research has shown that the conditions in secure facilities often negatively affect the residents. Furthermore, young adults often find it difficult to adjust to independence...

Multi-generational Co-living for Care: A Socially Inclusive and Caring Environment to Maximize Independence for Elderly

This study and design explores the possibilities and opportunities of multi-generational co-living for elderly in need of care, within an ageing society like The Netherlands. Younger and older generations are proven to have mutual benefits with each other; mentally, socially and therefore physically as well. Co-living of elderly together with...

Stigma and the Built environment: Growing old in an inclusive environment

This thesis focusses on the influence of the built environment on the stigma of elderly. Stigma and assumptions over past care concepts influence care giving and age-exclusion, which create a misconception of the current state of care facilities. This misconception limits the possibility of an inclusive built environment for the elderly. The...

Long live the elderly: extending independent living by design

The Dutch population is aging and therefore the Netherlands requires more capacity in care since this is currently not enough. Living independently as long as possible is a solutionand this solution corresponds to the wishes of elderly. Therefore the purpose of this research is to answer the following question: ‘How can architecture extend...

Reducing distance: Reduce distance to create a sense of belonging and get familiar with one another

The distance between the elderly and others is very large. This means that you have less to do with each other, know less about each other and this means that the distance is getting bigger all the time. The institutional buildings have a kind of imaginary “boundery” around their building, difficult to get in and to get in touch with the elderly...

Towards a dementia proof society

The amount of elderly in the Netherlands will increase significantly in the upcoming years. According to the CBS (2018) by 2030 a quarter of the Dutch population will be aged 65 or older. Due to the growing number of elderly people, the number of elderly people with dementia is also increasing. The current built environment does not respond to...

FOR + TOGETHER: designing towards an inclusive living environment where the elderly can feel at home

Due to this graduation studio I was "Designing FOR + TOGETHER with my hometown an intergenerational neighbourhood in Rheinsheim with focus on autonomy + interaction + authencity for the elderly".

Ensemble: An exploration of reciprocity and the act of giving to reinvent the elderly home

The studio ‘Designing for Care – towards an Inclusive Living Environment’ engages with the living environment of elderly that are in need of care. While our society has to cope with a growing amount of elderly, the existing care buildings often do not meet the needs and wishes of our current elderly who want to be more independent. Though they...

Building a Social Community

Loneliness is social pain. It occurs as a defence mechanism if a person does not<br/>have enough social contact. This pain prevents people from being isolated which<br/>in historical times would be fatal as people are stronger and safer in groups. Among elderly loneliness is more severe then in other age groups. This is due to<br/>the loss of...

Growing old independently in a cohesive environment

This graduation research focuses on discovering new ways of housing the elderly that fits the changed elderly healthcare policy in the Netherlands. It explores ways how to embed them into a neighborhood in which they can rely on support from their neighbors in order to keep them longer at home independently. This has been done by creating a...

The Elderly Movement: Elderly in charge of their own flows in life again

The aging society causes problems on three different scales. For cities in general, for the residential housing for elderly and for people who live (elderly) and ‘work’ (healthcare organizations) inside the buildings. The existing elderly homes as well as public spaces can not accommodate the growing numbers of elderly anymore. Due to this fact...