Continuity of Aging

The thesis builds on a pre-diploma project that explores the differences between different types of elderly care. Ibid, where meaningful, it proposes to combine the different types of care into a coherent whole - a stable home. This offers continuity of care, permanence of relationships between clients and with staff and the constancy of the environment. The stable home is presented in the form of a more general applicable typology and then tested on a specific design for a home at the Náměstí Míru in Brno, Czech Republic.

The older a person gets, the more susceptible he is to change. Especially to change in the environment, the community of loved ones, and later on, the caregiver. Therefore, many elderly people find it very challenging to move from institution to institution according to their condition. So in this project I am trying to define and then test a typology of a new type of home. A home that can respond to the client's condition with increased flexibility compared to existing services. A home where the client will be able to arrive in a state of full independence and mobility and use their space according to their personal needs, but at the same time have the opportunity to stay in the same space even if their condition deteriorates significantly. However, he or she may be admitted in a state of minimal independence and the home will be able to care for him or her. The home works on the principle of private rooms grouped into larger clusters - apartments. The client thus has a full room with a bathroom to himself, but can also freely use the common areas. Unlike most institutions, however, they are not shared with the whole home, but only with a small group of clients. This can give the space a more intimate and homely feel. The apartment is in the caregiver's charge. He or she does not care for clients across the home, but stays on site and goes steadily to one apartment. Clients can therefore know, trust and develop a relationship with him. Clusters are further grouped into wards. There can be up to four flats in one ward. A nurse is in charge of up to two wards. There are then other necessary facilities such as a room for the caregiver, toilets for visitors, a cleaning room, storage, etc.