Retirement villages
2. Develop an organic village layout
With a few honourable exceptions, traditional, centuries-old villages are not made in grids. They grow organically over the years in a less structured way. To help make a retirement village feel like a quintessential village, apartment blocks need to be laid out in a way that means the paths through the village gently wind like that of a traditional village, and homes are closer than the set distance on a new housing estate.
The apartment blocks and cottages should be clustered in such a way that also creates ‘squares’ and intermediate spaces that enable the natural creation of different environments across the village. Central facilities should be places residents want to hang out in, so it feels more natural and like a village. The green spaces of the grounds and gardens should support this village feel, particularly if native tree and plant species are nurtured within them. Garden walls and fences should be avoided, however, to encourage a community feel and steer clear of an institutional look. The positioning of different apartment blocks and cottages help to get around issues of privacy. While retirement villages need parking spaces for residents and their visitors for functionality reasons, they should be discreetly spread out across the village so they feel like a natural part of the landscape. Big parking lots are not attractive and detract from the village feel.
The beating heart of a retirement village needs to be easily accessible to fulfil its purpose
3. Encourage a vibrant village centre
The beating heart of a retirement village needs to be easily accessible to fulfil its purpose. The gently winding paths mentioned above should lead to it and those entering the village should be directed there by the access road. It is here that all the communal facilities should be located to encourage residents to create that buzzing environment you want in a successful retirement village. Inspired’s village centres typically have a restaurant and café-bar with shop to encourage traffic between traditional meal and drinking times as well as be convenient for residents. In addition, our communities typically feature a library, cinema room, craft room, and wellness centre consisting of swimming pool, spa, gym, salon and treatment rooms.
Having the village manager’s office in the centre allows the village team to have a better understanding of what the residents want, as well as make the company seem more accessible to the residents.
A lot of thought should go into the interior design of a village centre. We want them to be stylish places so that the restaurant is a treat for residents and visitors, as well as being warm and inviting places.
Little touches like a desk in the lounge area means the residents’ association, residents, visitors and village team members can sit and work in a public area in a way that promotes a community feel. Lighting also plays an important role in a multipurpose building; it is a simple thing but having dimmable lighting makes a big difference.
Do not forget, too, to make the most of outside space. Our café-bars always open out onto a courtyard, which allows for outdoor seating. In ideal conditions, you can accommodate as many people as possible, and in times of a coronavirus lockdown, you can still safely accommodate people.
The outdoor seating in the main courtyard area at our villages play host to resident societies like a choir - providing a central, convenient location to meet where they can safely socially distance outside. The pandemic has been eye- opening in many regards, and it has highlighted the need for outdoor space for all generations.
4. Embrace wellness technology For a retirement community operator to really deliver on the promise of helping people age well, we strongly believe that means providing holistic wellbeing. Not only are good facilities such as pools,
November 2020 •
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
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