As mentioned in my post on the five stages of life, at an age of around forty, I began designing a home and constructed it a few years later. I live in that home presently. However now at sixty, I find that it is a bit too large for me. There are rooms that I do not visit for months and there are terraces that I visit less than once a year. As one ages it becomes difficult to maintain a large home. Even if one has the money and can afford to hire part time or full time help, it is not a reliable proposition. Domestic assistants go on leave from time to time and sometimes change to other occupations. Therefore, for some time now, my mind has been turning to more compact accommodations in a secured complex along with other senior citizens. Being an engineer with some experience of residential construction, the task of preliminary design has fallen on my shoulders.
Complexes for senior citizens designed by commercial builders are available. However with commercial builders, the profit motive often compromises on the quality and comfort level of such complexes. Over the last few days I began designing the individual homes of a possible new complex and some of the results are shown as floor plan 1 and floor plan 2 in the pictures. I am posting them here incase you can give some suggestion for improvements or discover a design flaw.
Floor plan 1 is designed for construction in a resort like orchard or farm setting; therefore it has been designed in a manner so that single hotel style rooms may be constructed on the first floor for visitors. In order to minimize construction costs and to maintain the integrity of design it becomes necessary that openings and walls of upper floors be primarily constructed precisely over the walls of a lower floor. This requirement has been kept in mind while preparing these designs.
Floor plan 2 permits construction of two more bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor for visiting family or friends. However both designs are compact so that they can be set in a row in a complex with some common services and a common club lounge and dining hall. Both plans have private kitchens that are adequate for daily meals and even entertaining, common dining permits social interaction and an escape from the chores of cooking. It is thus possible for residents to prepare their own breakfast and visit the dining hall for lunch or dinner if they wish. On occasions one may have the dinner or lunch delivered to the suite, especially if one is indisposed. The complex is visualized for a group of 12 to 60 persons/couples. The decision to launch such a complex has not yet been taken but these designs are some of the preliminary steps.
Please click on the images for a larger view.
14 comments:
Ashok,
Your floor plans are good.
But I wonder how much it costs to live in one of those units per month. You mentioned that meals could be delivered. I'm thinking of good indian curry dishes and nan. Mmm, good. I would say the quality of food, services, and the price per month are much more important than floor plans. If the price is right and food and services will be good, I can compromise on space and floor plan.
Keiko, thanks for your comments.
Those units would be self owned so one would have to pay for the construction.
It is proposed that the dining hall be managed by an elected committee of the occupants on a no profit no loss basis. The price should not be very different from a self made meal. However, as is the case quality of community kitchens varies from time to time. One would just have to depend on ones own kitchen if it is not upto the mark.
Keiko, for me floor plans are very important because one's living comfort depends a lot on that. I have lived in homes with poor plans and others with good ones so I can compare that.
The food must be the best in any situation, that is why having a private kitchen is a must even if another community one is available.
Since I put up these plans a few design problems were noted ( In the staircase). I am working to rectify that. The mot difficult part of a home design is staircase. It is for this reason that many old buildings had improper staircases. Modern designs attempt to rectify that problem.
curry dishes or kebabs are yummy. I left a recipe for chicken kebabs in Rebb's blog. They are really yummy and we make them from time to time often to use as burger patties with fries. I know fries are not that healthy but they sure taste good with a burger.
Ashok,
Yes, I understand that.
Looking further, I see two important things. Yes, staircase, and also bathrooms.
For seniors, I would remove any staircase and make all the bedrooms with a bathroom. When we wake up at night, we don't need to travel far. We can return to our beds and fall back sleep easily. And I'd like almost no divider and the entire floor to be one level without any bump. Elevator must be expensive, but I hope you will find a reasonable one if you need to make upstairs. If the upstairs is needed for guests, I would send guests to upstairs and I would live downstairs.
Come to think of it, I don't need upstairs. Guests can go to hotels.
I agree with your ideas Keiko. Yes upstairs is definitely not needed for seniors. Floorplan1 has hotel rooms upstairs with an external staircase just for guests.
Floorplan1 has the main bedroom on the ground floor. It has two further bedrooms upstairs but those have an independeant entrance as well as an inner one. They can be used for guests or rented out because there is a provision for a smaller bathroom and kitchnette upstairs too.
My present home is similar. My bedroom is downstairs and other bedrooms are upstairs thst i hardly ever visit. They are great when my daughters or others visit. Presently Shyamu uses them.
The bathrooms in both plans are just adjacent to the bedrooms but set in a corridor so that guests/ assistants can approach it without having to enter the bedroom that can be a fully private space.
Keiko since your last visit I posted the updated floor plan 2. It is essentially similar. Only some technical details are changed. There are other minor things like the direction of opening of doors etc. that can be changed but I will leave these plans alone for now. Minor things can be altered nearer to time of construction.
I have still not made up my mind if I should get involved with the construction of these plans. I already have a nice home and if I did ever change it is just easier at this stage to get an already constructed home and make a few alterations.
Did you look up the kebab recipe in Rebbs Blog ? I look forward to hearing from you about the art of Sushi making in your blog someday. Over here though Sea weed or rice paper is not available. Perhaps one or the other is required for sushi ?!
Ashok,
I made a comment at Rebb's blog. About sushi, I haven't made for a long time. A shallow wooden barrel sits on a lower shelf of the kitchen counter. I used to use it a few times a month long ago. I probably mentioned this in one of my past comments.
For your floor plans of limited space like that, openness is the most important factor to me rather than how to entertain others or keep privacy. If I build my own such one bedroom home, I make my living room and kitchen as one without any divider whatsoever, and probably I can use an accordion door between the living room and the bedroom so that during daytime, I can leave it open. If I have luxury of good craftmanship, I'll make all the doors sliding kind. And make all the corners round, no sharp edges. And I'd like the kitchen sink stainless steel, not tiles so that I have less chance of breaking anything when I happen to drop a glass.
About bathroom locations, I think people have a fixed concept in design because most of us have always lived in the homes in which bathroom was away from the bedroom. From my bed, it takes only a few steps to reach my bathroom, and the door is always open. First time I came to the U.S., I lived in such a home. And I really liked the idea although I was only 19, and although that house was a luxurious home, it doesn't have to be luxury to have the same floor design. Since then, it became my requirement. When my mother was having problems taking care of my father, I told her to create a toilet room next to his bedroom. At first she thought my idea too radical because Japanese homes are not built that way, but the following year I made a visit to Japan, I saw it done. When she decided the idea was good, she executed it right away. After he died, that bedroom became her bedroom. Right now my renter occupies the house, but I think they have benefited from that part of the floor plan.
I'd like to input something but I don't know what! Looking at the plans, I couldn't see anything that was specifically for "Seniors", whatever that term precisely means.
What I would need to know is more details of the surroundings, how close the houses will be to one another, what outside land they have access to, the sunshine and shade, the size and orientation of windows, any arrangements for heating in winter and cooling in summer, the distance of amenities such as shops, information as to how to get to them, etc.
It's very culturally determined, I think, as to how people, especially the elderly, feel comfortable with their environment and neighbours.
I once saw a TV programme which showed a solution in Japan. Elderly people too residence in a communal baths complex. The indoor pool and surrounding space was an area where they could be sociable or not as they wished. The pools offered a space especially suited to those whose mobility had been impaired. Food was provided to those who required it. I am not sure if they had facilities to cook on their own. They could receive visitors.
I think the key thing was that an elderly or infirm elderly person might want the minimum amount of personal space. A small room means less work in cleaning and so on.
It was just one answer. I wonder if Keiko knows more about this.
Keiko the concept of open kitchens with open living spaces is very popular with many architects and persons. That can possibly be implemented within these floor plans for those who desire that.
Keiko I too have lived in homes with both types of bathrooms, those that open in the bedroom and others that dont. If you look at these plans carefully the bathroom is not far but opening it outside the bedroom is preferred since there is a single bathroom and it is easier for visitors thatway.
These homes are designed for a complex housing a compatible group of people who are expected to visit each other often for a chat, drink a cup of tea and occassionally dinner too.
Vincent, I shall put up another plan later to show how these homes are arranged in a complex. They are meant to be set in a row side by side so there are no windows to the side. However, there are good windows in front and back to let in lots of sunshine and fresh air.
Seniors implies persons over sixty and mostly retired here i.e senior citizens.
It is hoped that they will be set in an open campus so that there will be open orchard, farm, grounds or lake in front and back. I shall put up another post on those layouts soon where each of these units will be shown as just a box.
The specific senior element in these design is there being set in a row and having all the necessary spaces on a ground floor.
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