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Designing for Dignity: Lessons from an Adult Foster Home Remodel
As someone at the beginning of my architectural journey—an architect-in-formation, if you will—I’ve come to understand that aesthetics alone are never enough. Good architecture is not just about how a space looks, but how it feels, and more critically, how it serves. A recent project involving the remodel and conversion of an existing building into an adult foster home became an exercise in designing not just for function, but for empathy, dignity, and care.
This experience reshaped how I think about scale, light, privacy, and circulation. These elements are foundational in architectural education, but they take on new weight when you are designing for aging adults—many of them vulnerable, living with memory loss, mobility challenges, or the emotional toll of dependency. What follows is a breakdown of essential lessons from that experience, organized by care typologies, design strategies, and the ethical considerations every designer must confront in this realm.
Types of Adult Care Homes
Design begins with understanding the typology. Each type of adult care facility carries distinct spatial, regulatory, and emotional requirements. These are not interchangeable programs—they each call for their own architectural language.
Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs)
Designed to support independence while assisting with daily needs. These environments require flexible spaces that promote autonomy without sacrificing safety.
Nursing Homes (Skilled Nursing Facilities)
Medically intensive, these facilities must balance clinical infrastructure with human-scale warmth. Circulation must support both resident mobility and caregiver workflow.
Residential Care Homes
Typically smaller and more domestic, these prioritize intimacy and familiarity. Architectural choices must reinforce a home-like environment.
Adult Family Homes
Often embedded within existing residences, these settings emphasize informal caregiving. Spaces must flex between public and private, familial and clinical.
Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs)
These multi-phase communities accommodate shifting needs over time. Longevity and adaptability must be embedded from the start.
Board and Care Homes
Similar to residential care homes but more regulated, these spaces depend on shared living and dining areas to nurture social connection.
Memory Care Facilities
Designed for residents with dementia or cognitive impairments. Clear orientation cues, circular paths, secured boundaries, and sensory-friendly materials are essential.
Adult Day Care Centers
Operationally intensive in short timeframes, these facilities need efficient programming zones for diverse daytime use.
Palliative Care Homes
Comfort takes precedence here. Quiet rooms, soft lighting, and family gathering spaces should ease emotional strain while honoring the end of life.
Key Design Considerations in Senior Living Architecture
Designing for older adults is not about subtraction or simplification—it’s about clarity, comfort, and affirming dignity through space.
1. Light and Ventilation
Older adults require greater illumination for visual comfort. Large windows, skylights, and clerestory openings help maintain circadian rhythms and reduce anxiety. Balanced lighting conditions—soft, even, and glare-free—are critical in memory care and palliative settings. Ventilation should encourage connection to the outdoors. Operable windows, fresh air exchange, and subtle mechanical systems enhance well-being without becoming visually dominant.
2. Texture and Surfaces
Surfaces must communicate safety through touch and tone. Slip-resistant flooring, soft matte finishes, and gentle transitions between materials reduce falls and support spatial orientation. Tactile moments—wood handrails, textured wall panels—serve as cues and comforts for residents navigating space with diminished senses.
3. Public and Private Realms
Privacy and participation must coexist. Thresholds between public, semi-private, and private areas should be clearly defined, but not isolating. Inset entries, partial partitions, and visual breaks give residents control over their exposure. Communal areas should feel informal and inviting, while private rooms must allow for personalization and retreat.
4. Biophilic Elements and Nature Access
Nature should not be a view—it should be an experience. Even small gardens, walking loops, or planted courtyards foster orientation, reduce stress, and provide rhythm to the day. When outdoor access isn’t possible, framed views, indoor greenery, and nature-inspired materials offer vital psychological grounding.
5. Hardware and Accessibility
Every detail affects usability. Lever handles replace knobs. Switches, faucets, and cabinet pulls must be operable with limited strength. Hallways must accommodate mobility devices without resembling corridors in a hospital. Accessibility must feel natural—not added-on, but built-in. This is not about meeting code; it’s about ensuring independence and reinforcing dignity.
This space—designed by Mae Architects—is a compelling example of how architecture can support dignity, comfort, and community.
Ethics and Architecture: The Responsibility to Care
This is the part few want to talk about. Too many adult foster homes in America operate under the logic of minimum investment and maximum return. They are designed for liability, not livability. In these spaces, dignity erodes not through neglect alone, but through architecture that communicates indifference.
When we design care homes as warehouses—tight corridors, fluorescent lighting, cold institutional materials—we confirm society’s worst message: that aging is a burden. The spaces feel temporary, transactional. Residents become patients, and homes become holding pens.
Architecture can’t fix systemic inequities, but it can respond with resistance. Thoughtful design is a form of care. It invites warmth, clarity, and calm. It affirms that residents are not forgotten. It gives staff the space to do their work with dignity. It says: we see you.
If you’re designing or opening an adult foster home, design it as if your parent or partner will live there. Plan circulation for someone with dementia. Choose materials that calm, not just those that clean easily. Prioritize visibility, safety, and comfort in equal measure. Every architectural decision—down to a door handle—is an ethical one. Dignity is not a premium feature. It is the baseline. Architecture, at its best, doesn’t simply house life. It protects it. It honors it.
Resources:
ArchDaily. “Housing for the Elderly: Examples of Independence and Community Living.” ArchDaily, 2020. https://www.archdaily.com/941691/housing-for-the-elderly-examples-of-independence-and-community-living
DesignBlendz. “A Guide to Senior Living Facilities Architecture & Design.” DesignBlendz, 2023. https://www.designblendz.com/blog/a-guide-to-senior-living-facilities-architecture-design
Facility Guidelines Institute. Design Guide for Long-Term Care Homes, 2018. https://www.fgiguidelines.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MMP_DesignGuideLongTermCareHomes_2018.01.pdf