DESIGNING FOR AN AGEING DEMOGRAPHIC


space available to them than ever before. Let’s create spaces to dance, embrace, hug, kiss, and much more. Furniture and fittings, fabrics, and finishes, can be sensitively specified to best effect, e.g. kissing chairs, back-to-back rocking chairs, window seats, double hanging cocoons, two-person tub chairs, swing chairs, multi-person saunas, spa spaces, and even two-person bathtubs. Ultimately, spaces should be meaningfully choreographed, addressing desirable light levels, temperatures, colour, and soundscape. See How long will I love you? Sex and Intimacy in later life, 14 February 2017, by Dr David Lee and Professor Josie Tetley of Manchester University.


Gender diversity and inclusion This year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pride. The first Gay Pride march was held in London on 1 July 1972. Views and attitudes have changed considerably since Alan Turing – the inventor of the Enigma Code and modern computing – died as a criminal for his homosexuality in 1954. Policies, guidelines, and legislation, have been developing rapidly. Inclusion by Design – addressing equality, diversity, and the built environment – was an early guideline document produced by CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment). Recently, Government inclusion policies have promoted and addressed Equality and Diversity in health and social care. Age UK has also usefully published its recent commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. As designers, architects, and planners, this diversity has to be addressed in terms of ‘Inclusive Design’. The task is complex, and impacts on multiple aspects of design, such as space planning, wayfinding, furniture and fittings, fabrics and finishes, colourways, models of care, and much more.


Senior dating During the recent pandemic, media advertisements have uncomfortably focused on funeral enterprises, ‘Care cremation’, Equity sell-offs, and Will- drafting services. However, laced through these morbid advertisements, dating for seniors has been noticeably on the increase. New apps have appeared – from Our Time, Zoosk, Elite Singles, Singles 50+, and Silver Singles, as well as the sale of erectile disfunction products. As our population continues to live longer, it is inevitable for us to suffer the loss of a partner. Age UK advises that ‘as we get older, we still have a need for closeness and companionship’.


Rock ‘n roll – let’s dance ‘Dance is seen as a viable therapy because it simultaneously combines physical and cognitive stimulation, which maximises its impact on neuroplasticity and cognition’ – BMC Series – Biomedicalcentral.com. It has the potential to delay Dementia. Research states that dancing can reduce the risk of Dementia by 76%. Remarkably, we are


24 A concept for ‘New Living’.


Research states that dancing can reduce the risk of Dementia by 76%. Remarkably, we are informed that it is better than walking, cycling, or indeed swimming


informed that it is better than walking, cycling, or indeed swimming. Dancing improves social interaction, relieves stress and anxiety, improves cardiovascular health, and ameliorates flexibility, as well as muscle tone. At present, line dancing, ballroom dancing, tap dancing, and even burlesque and belly dancing, are becoming ever popular. We have to create opportunities and


spaces to better engage with this activity, such as lounges, sitting areas, multi- use spaces, circulation spaces, or even externally protected terraces or patio areas. Perhaps bespoke dance studios for community use could be established to good effect?


New living – a new paradigm Presently we inhabit an uncertain world of climate change, rapidly changing demographics, pandemics, and rapidly ageing populations. We are living longer, which will bring the problems of many levels of comorbidity. Technology will offer a sophisticated selection of armoury – from virtual reality and 3D stem cell printing, to pharma drones, telecare, e-health, and robotics, as well as an exotic selection of apps and augmented reality.


Richard Mazuch


Richard Mazuch is the founder of IBI TH!NK. An advocate of evidence- based design, he ‘creates innovations that positively impact on specific patient groups’. Sense Sensitive Design, Emotional Mapping, the Design Prescription, Sensory Plans, and Design Heals, are a few of the models that he has successfully pioneered. He says he ‘gains great satisfaction from translating holistic ideas into radical but pragmatic solutions’, actively collaborates with manufacturers, and creates interventions such as the Bed Pod and Sensory Doorway. He has worked extensively with Dementia expert clients in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia, and Malaysia, sharing his EBR knowledge underpinning ‘Sense Sensitive Design and the Ageing Process’.


NOVEMBER 2022 | THE NETWORK


With an increasingly ageing population facing chronic health challenges and decreasing filial support, one’s understanding of healthcare strategies must be recalibrated. The focus must be toward delivering a ‘new look’ service embedded within the community. This could range from assisted living, self- care, tele-care, and tele-medicine, within a single housing unit, to multiple units supported by social care services, nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, occupational health visitors, psychiatric nurses, and local pharmacists. Chronic and lifestyle-related diseases


are on the rise, and healthcare services are struggling to keep up with the consequent accelerating demand. Simultaneously, we are finding new ways of taking control of our personal health and wellbeing. Increasingly, the goal is to establish a long and fulfilled lifestyle, addressing preventative, as well as curative, health management regimes. We have a very real opportunity to deliver optimal therapeutic environments in our homes and the community that are supportive of wellbeing, diagnostics, treatments, recovery, and indeed singing, dancing, and rock ‘n roll.


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Courtesy of Richard Mazuch


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