11 TRENDS IN DINING DESIGN FOR THE NEXT GENERATION “Boomers want the lifestyle they are
used to,” Bremhorst said. “The mentality is, ‘Why should I compromise any of my current experience if or when I move into a senior living community?’” This shift in preferences has created de-
sign challenges and opportunities for com- munities. As communities begin to more closely follow dining design trends in other hospitality-related industries, such as ho- tels and restaurants, they are emphasizing variety, choice, and the casual and placing less importance on the formal and tightly scheduled. Philip Dopson, vice president of design
and retail for Morrison Community Liv- ing, said the senior living industry has been aware of the pending shift in preferences likely to arrive with boomers, but some communities have been slow to act. “It’s a conversation that has reached a lot
of people in senior living, but it hasn’t reached everyone,” Dopson said. “I think some people are still thinking, ‘That’s still 10 years down the road, and I’m not going to mess with what we’ve got right now.’ But that’s a mistake. It’s time to do something now.” In light of this shift, experts reflected on 11 design keys to the new senior living din- ing climate.
More venues, more choices The most impactful design change that the boomers have wrought is the need
to offer multiple venues of varying styles and atmospheres. Senior living communi- ties across the industry are creating new venues to ensure a diversity of choices for residents. These new venues tend most often to adopt the casual atmospheres of bars, cafés, pubs, taverns, grills, and coffee shops, but communities are also looking at trends such as clusters of micro-restaurants, upscale culinary shops, food courts, market- place-style venues, and fast-casual offerings, Bremhorst said. Many of these new venues feature extended hours so residents are no longer locked into set dining schedules. “We’re seeing communities push more
toward casual or interactive experiential dining,” said Julia Bailey, senior interior designer with OZ Architecture. “Residents are wanting to be able to treat their com- munity dining as they would going into a restaurant, making it more entertainment- based and making a priority of experience over function.”
14 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MAY/JUNE 2018
Harbor Retirement Associates has adopted exhibition kitchens to allow residents to watch as their food is being prepared. Jami Mohlenkamp, principal with OZ
Architecture, said providing casual res- taurant climates that do not require rigid schedules helps residents stay positive about the transition to senior living. “It helps create that feeling that you’re
still living the life you’ve always lived,” Mohlenkamp said. In the past, Erickson Living, which oper-
ates senior living communities in 11 states, might have three or four restaurants on one of its large campuses, said Patrick Pluma- dore, the company’s vice president of dining services. Today, those same campuses are more likely to be home to up to 12 restau- rants, ranging from formal dining to grab- and-go fare. Historically, the main dining room at an Erickson Living campus could seat 250 people. That main dining room is much more likely to have half that capacity today, Plumadore said. “We know that baby boomers don’t
want to just have that same experience,” Plumadore said. “They want to be flexible, so we’ve got to be flexible enough with our designs to accommodate those different experiences.” Previously, when designing a new senior living community, the dining experience could be simply centered around a large, main dining room. Now, designing dining venues takes more planning and care, par- ticularly to identify the mix of venues that will be a hit with a particular population of residents.
For existing campuses, it can be difficult
to carve out new spaces to accommodate the desire for more casual venues, particularly at those communities constructed with the old dining style guiding the design. When done right, though, the rewards are apparent. For instance, Ernst said HRA renovated an ex- isting community in Coral Springs, Fla. by lowering the seating capacity in the main restaurant and transferring it to a new café and bar nearby. Part of the lobby also was converted to accommodate the new dining space. The effort was worth it. “Our residents loved having that new din-
ing venue—that extra choice for them to go somewhere if they didn’t want a four-course meal,” Ernst said. “It’s really added a lot to the community.”
Creative division Often, creating brand-new venues from scratch on a campus is not a viable op-
tion. However, Dean Maddalena, president of studioSIX5, said creative ways of break- ing up a space can transform a single venue into multiple venues, even when they’re all served by the same kitchen. “We break up the spaces with screens,
and we’ve even made it where we create dif- ferent rooms within a room, each with a dif- ferent personality,” Maddalena said. “You might have one that’s a bit more formal, another one that’s more casual, another one that’s more like a bar. And then you can change them out.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
