What makes an age-friendly home?

Lakeside Senior Apartments offer 92 affordable homes in Oakland, co-developed by the Oakland Housing Authority and Satellite Housing, Inc. (Treve Johnson / David Baker Architects)

How can we build homes that will age gracefully with us?

My Uncle Pat moved into assisted living during the height of the pandemic, and it was one of the hardest decisions my family had to make. Uncle Pat is the social butterfly of the family, and the forced isolation and distancing hit him the hardest. Pat, who had always lived on his own and relied on his social network, was suddenly unable to see anyone, and had no one to check in on him regularly.

It was a devastating moment for him, and our family wasn’t sure what the best option would be. Often, buildings for older adults have a stigma around them. Like many people, my family was afraid that, in a home for older adults, Pat would lose his sense of autonomy and connection to the outside world. But we were wrong. 

Whenever I called to check up on him, Uncle Pat would gleefully tell me about his new home and how he never wanted to go back to his old apartment. When I visited for the first time, I quickly understood why. Everyone knew everyone, and it felt like the building was designed to support that sense of community. His private room opened into a common area fitted with chairs and tables for neighbours to connect. As we toured the space, he proudly showed me the courtyard with its pergola swings, the common room for group activities, and the cafeteria where he always sits with a friend. 

The new building is perfect for Pat’s social ways—in this home, he can wake up and see friends on a daily basis. These social connections don’t happen by chance. Built with large hallways and common areas, the building intentionally connects those who live in it. Pat’s story reminds us of the power that buildings have to make social connections, and become spaces that support people as they age. 

Uncle Pat in his new home at Les Pavillons LaSalle, in Montreal.

The FOGO is real

Many families don’t feel comfortable talking about aging or planning around it. The fear of getting old is so pervasive that there’s an acronym for it—FOGO. When we surveyed older adults in Vancouver, we learned that 16 per cent hadn’t yet considered future housing options. Many are afraid of losing community as they age, and perceive long-term care as isolating. But the reality is that we’re all getting older. The number of older adults will grow significantly in our lifetimes—over one quarter of Canada’s population will be 65 or older by 2038.

Our homes and neighbourhoods influence how likely we are to feel lonely or isolated. About one in five seniors reported experiencing loneliness in 2020, noting significant barriers around being able to participate in group or social activities. Pat was lucky to find a place in a new building that he loved, but many people want to age in the homes they already live in. We can and must design homes to support this independence and sense of community at all stages of life. 

What does the built environment have to do with aging?

Socially connected neighbours are healthier, more resilient, and often able to stay longer in their home and community as they age. The design of our homes can help foster these connections. At Happy Cities, we’ve been doing research on design strategies for age-friendly homes that can grow with us as we get older. Over the last few years, we’ve had conversations with older adults across B.C. about their homes and their neighbourhoods, learning about what works and what could be improved on. Together with Hey Neighbour Collective and gerontology researchers from Simon Fraser University, we studied 20 different buildings, observing how people interact in shared spaces and speaking with residents about the most important spaces in their homes. This article shares four strategies that come from our new age-friendly toolkit for building social connections, showing how multi-unit homes can be designed to be social, support aging in place, and strengthen multigenerational communities. 

Four strategies for designing age-friendly homes

1) Social homes

Our homes are our sanctuaries—everyone needs a private place to recharge and rest amid the bustle of everyday life. Well-designed homes give people the space to decide how and when they engage with neighbours. For example, transition areas between public and private spaces help balance social opportunities with a sense of privacy and safety. The safer we feel, the more likely we are to stay in one place for a long time, allowing us to build connections with familiar people and places in the neighbourhood.  

We move differently as we age, and it’s important to have homes that adapt to our changing needs. A fundamental aspect to an age-friendly home is that it follows universal design principles to ensure physical accessibility and ease of movement—this means also creating homes that can be adaptable and flexible. 

At Our Urban Village Cohousing in Vancouver, homes are flexible and adaptable to meet changing needs over time. For instance, while all residents have access to a community laundry room, each home includes plumbing that can accommodate laundry if needed. Further, this ground-floor home (below) has a wheelchair-accessible layout and bathroom with flush entrances, providing ease of travel for older adults and those with mobility challenges.

An accessible, ground-floor home at Our Urban Village in Vancouver, by MA+HG Architects and Tomo Spaces. (Tomo Spaces)

2) Social circulation

Hallways, stairs, and elevators can be so much more than a means to get to our next destination. When circulation spaces are designed for accessibility and comfort—with good lighting and spaces to pause—they can facilitate interactions with neighbours and the spaces outside of a home. 

The Lakeside Senior Apartments in Oakland, an affordable housing community designed by David Baker Architects, have wide hallways with handrails providing a comfortable walking or rolling experience. Along the hallways are small social nooks, where residents can chat, read, or relax. The spaces are large enough for folks to bring in their own art and lighting to make it their own. 

A reading nook at Lakeside Senior Apartments in Oakland, California. (Mariko Reed / David Baker Architects) 

3) Social amenities

Amenity spaces fill a collective need of a building, either for a specific function—think laundry, co-working, storage—or for recreation, such as a courtyard, garden, lounge, shared kitchen, play room. These spaces invite residents to get to know one another and participate in activities together, and can help to build relationships between people of different ages, cultures, and abilities. Creating diverse, communal spaces helps support wellbeing not only for older adults, but for everyone. 

At Marmalade Lane Cohousing, the common room is designed for both play and rest. It connects directly to the outdoor patio, so that residents can wander easily between indoor and outdoor spaces. Moveable, comfortable furniture allows residents to adapt the space to meet their needs. Different kinds of seating and activity areas—like the large dining table and ping-pong table—encourage gathering and support intergenerational relationships.

Indoor amenity space at Marmalade Lane Co-Housing in Cambridge, UK. (David Butler / Mole Architects)

Outdoor spaces can provide a variety of seating, gathering points, and shaded areas, as seen in the intergenerational courtyard at the Frederick Douglas Haynes Gardens Apartments, and affordable housing community in San Francisco. The area is flat, allowing ease of movement for walkers or rollers. Balconies overlook the courtyard, connecting private homes to shared spaces and creating an overall sense of community.

Outdoor courtyard at Frederick Douglas Haynes Gardens Apartments in San Francisco. (Paulett Taggard Architects)

4) Social building edges

Building edges are transition zones between public and private space. When designed thoughtfully, they facilitate connections between residents and the outside world. Building edges should provide strong visual connections to the street, with frequent windows, entrances, balconies, and engaging signage. Distinct, easily recognizable entrances are particularly important for individuals living with dementia, and help provide landmarks for wayfinding. 

The entrance at Berwick, a seniors independent living building on Vancouver Island, has a generous drop-off area that is easily seen from the lobby. Outdoor areas just outside the building include wide walking paths, a distinct entry point with a large overhang for weather protection, and a boardwalk over a rainwater-capture pond with native plants. Safe, accessible entrances and drop-off areas are critical for older adults, who may need places to wait for accessible transport, or simply want a place to sit outside and observe street life close to home. 

The welcoming entrance to Berwick, a retirement community on Vancouver Island. (Happy Cities) 

Curious to learn more about building age-friendly homes?

Everyone deserves to live in a home that supports their needs and wellbeing at all ages and life stages. The age-friendly edition of our Building Social Connections Toolkit shares best practices and design guidelines for building multi-unit homes that meet diverse and changing needs over time, so that people can build long-lasting relationships in their community.