Existing apartment buildings as a spatial reserve for assisted living

Abstract

PurposeAgeing populations induce needs to adapt existing housing. With ageing, the number of frail old people, who require assistance in daily life, is also increased. Converting existing housing into assisted living enables them to remain in their community while receiving necessary support and care. The purpose is to investigate whether post-war mass housing is spatially appropriate for adaptation into group homes for older people.Design/methodology/approachThe research material is attained from Finland. Spatial requirements for group homes are drawn from 130 units built or renovated during 2000–2015. Spatial characteristics of mass housing are mapped from 105 apartment buildings built in the 1970s. The latter are matched with the former by comparing the connectivity of layouts, sizes of units and the numbers and sizes of individual spaces.FindingsGroup homes typically utilize a linear layout, which can easily be created in apartment buildings. Individual spaces of a group home fit apartment buildings effortlessly. Whole group home units mostly prove to be spatially feasible but result in looser dimensioning than is typical in existing units. The mass housing stock can be considered a spatial reserve for adaptation into group homes.Originality/valueThis is the first study to employ a large-scale, multi-case spatial mapping approach to analyse the adaptability properties of mass housing into assisted living. The findings pertain primarily to the Finnish context, but a methodology is presented which can be applied to other countries and also to other spatial functions.

Comparative analysis of hospital environments in Australia and China using the space syntax approach

“…The applications of the space syntax analysis have been explored in various building typologies, including residential apartment, educational institute, laboratory and healthcare facility (Alalouch et al , 2009; Chau et al , 2018; Haq and Luo, 2012; Kaasalainen and Huuhka, 2020; Sanni-Anibire et al , 2018; Zamani, 2019). When evaluating functional efficiency of hospitals with space syntax, existing studies often use benchmark measures including step depth, connectivity, integration and isovist analysis, which can assess wayfinding, privacy preference, social interaction and nurses’ behaviour of the given space (Haq and Luo, 2012).…”

Exploring the Market Requirements for Smart and Traditional Ageing Housing Units: A Mixed Methods Approach

“…Therefore, challenges for the provision of ageingin-place services and accommodations for frail old people have become a critical need that has attracted academic researchers' eyeballs. Nevertheless, most studies on frail older people focus on healthcare; studies investigated the issue of frail old people ageing in place in smart homes, for example, sense of safety [30], space, and residence [31][32][33], healthcare [15,[34][35][36][37][38], social activities [39], smart technologies [40], cost of ageing-in-place [41], public administration, and policy-making [42][43][44].…”

Identifying Design Trends in Mass Housing Development

“…The primary factor for the rise of mass housing correlates to the need for urban housing, characterized by large-scale housing projects aiming to produce multi-story and multi-block designs due to the shortage of urban land resources (Gür & Yüksel, 2019). As urban condition is concerned, scholarly discussion rendered mass housing into multi term context, including social housing (Chippagiri et al, 2021), mass-industrialized low-income housing (Habid et al, 2019), affordable housing (Olanrewaju & Tan, 2018), incremental housing (O'Brien et al, 2020), post-war mass housing (Kaasalainen & Huuhka, 2020), public housing (Fakere & Duke-Henshaw, 2019), and large housing estate (Antypenko & Benkő, 2022). In these cases, it is essential to note that the mass housing model is not a singular subject.…”