THINKING MAKING AND LIVING ARCHITECTURE IN AN AGEING SOCIETY. THE TYPOLOGICAL PROBLEM IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL INCLUSION FOR PEOPLE LIVING WELL WITH DEMENTIA

The twenty-first-century norm is represented by people living longer. This new demographic structure creates a number of societal challenges. One such challenge is that living longer and becoming old increases the likelihood of acquiring long-term conditions such as dementia. Another challenge is with the difficulties in defining a clear line between normal ageing and pathological ageing; a blurred distinction leads to stigmatising older adults as a social and economic burden. Therefore, there is a need for a care-model shift that is able to cope with a potential increase in demand for high-dependency and high-cost services and also address stigmatisation. Importantly, older adults’ mental and physical well-being should have a central role in this “shift.” A robust and productive relationship between people and space and well-being can have a positive impact. Of course, this shift has inevitable architectural repercussions. Taking this into account, the aim of this thesis is to investigate critically the comparable impact of the Humanitas© setting in Deventer (the Netherlands), the Rudolf© setting in Helsinki (Finland) and the Gojikara Mura© setting in Nagakute (Japan). Specifically, the Humanitas is a nursing home with a population of 50 older adults with dementia, 80 people with severe physical suffering, 20 people with social difficulties, ten people in short stay for recovery and six university students. The Rudolf is a senior home with a population of 18 young adults with mental impairments; 50 older adults with later stages of dementia; 52 older adults with early stages or no mental or physical impairments, and four young adults/university students. The Gojikara Mura© is a multigenerational community that accommodates a child day-care facility, a kindergarten (200 children between 3 – 5 years old), an adult day-care centre, an assisted living complex (50 older adult residents with different level of physical and mental impairments), a nursery school (300 enrolled students between 6 to 12, and 18 to 22 years old), and a nursing home (48 older adult residents with different level of physical and mental impairments). The analysis of these three case studies is based on a one-time post-occupancy evaluation framework and is organised into three parts defined as “thinking, making and living.” The method reveals the principles for conceiving a new architectural type: the “open type,” which is grounded in the notions of an “open architecture” and an “open city.” This “open type” promotes multidisciplinary, collaborative and socially inclusive design principles, and thereby order as a result. Consequently, a renewed adoption of Aristotelian ethics is revealed. They concern with the notion of dwelling that emphasises the value of socially inclusive forms of collective life. In this thesis, they are translated into a new pattern of care, which is built around participatory and coherent collaborative teamwork among different groups of healthcare providers, volunteers, residents and their families. The “open type” setting, therefore, addresses both a new architectural design and new care types with a focus on normalising ageing and tearing down personal and socioeconomic stigma. It may give form to a new type of housing stock not existing in Western countries and thereby institutions and governments must politically and economically support these initiatives.

Topic: Collaborative and Sustainable Housing Initiatives
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences