Design of Residential Centres for the Elderly and the Perception in Their Spaces

Abstract

This paper is part of the R+D+I Research Project recently approved by the MEC which is based on possible modifications in visual comfort on architectural spaces for improving the quality of life of the elderly (BIA2016-79308-R). In the project, a series of buildings in the Valencian Community that present various modifications for adapting them into geriatric institutions are studied and analysed. Two models have been selected, each of which presents a historical singularity (one, late nineteenth and the other, mid twentieth century) and architectural features located in very different environments. This study provides us information about some of the reforms carried out in their interior spaces to turn them into geriatric centres, as well as the conditions of habitability for such a vulnerable group. In the development of this document, different types of perceptive experiences of the users who live in these two spaces are analysed, after the field work in which the problems of adaptation and feeling of well-being permeate throughout. Proposals for improvements to visual accessibility and adaptation of the architectural space for senior citizens are proposed. Finally, we list some technological alternatives to know the type of stimuli in the built environment of senior citizens that might help to bring about improvements in this type of architecture.