Facilitating Design for Aging in Place

With less than four percent of the U.S. housing stock built for individuals with mobility difficulties. Difficult-to-navigate homes can lead to or worsen health problems in older adults due to factors such as increased isolation and premature moves into assisted living or nursing facilities. Improving the health and independence of older adults requires the design and creation of inclusive physical environments that allow people to age in their homes and communities. To address needs expressed by designers and developers, Enterprise Community Partners has released an Aging-in-Place design charrette toolkit to support affordable housing owners and developers seeking to assess and respond to the needs of their aging residents through the built environment.

Join us this month for a joint meeting of the BSA Design for Aging and Access Committees featuring
Carrie Niemy, Josh Safdie AIA and Hazel Ryerson who will share results from the aging-in-place charrettes that Josh and Hazel led on behalf of Enterprise Community Partners across the country. The Enterprise toolkit includes check-lists, recommendations, and charrette activities to help developers, architects and everyone involved in the design or renovation of senior housing agree on their design priorities and include as many of the recommendations as possible. Josh and Hazel “piloted” these materials for Enterprise at over 10 charrettes in cities across the country. The materials are available for free down load on Enterprise’s website.

Speaker Bios:
Carrie Niemy, Program Officer, Design Initiatives, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Carrie Niemy serves as the Program Officer for Design Initiatives at Enterprise Community Partners where she helps to pioneer new programs, tools and curriculums to effectively bring design excellence to the fields of community development and affordable housing. Prior to joining the Enterprise team, Carrie served as the Executive Director of East Somerville Main Streets for eight years where she led the organization’s urban and economic development efforts and placemaking strategy. Her work in cultural economic development has engaged over 30,000 people and the programs that she envisioned have been acknowledged by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Boston Globe and others for their ability to leverage community assets. Carrie holds a BS in Environmental Studies and Economics from Union College and an MBA focused in marketing and strategy from Boston University.

Josh Safdie AIA, NCARB
Josh Safdie AIA is a Principal at Kessler McGuinness & Associates, where he directs accessibility planning and Universal Design projects in higher education, multi-family housing, health care, and historic preservation. Prior to joining KMA, Mr. Safdie was director of the studio at the Institute for Human Centered Design. He has received awards from the Boston Society of Architects, Massachusetts Architectural Access Board, and Boston Preservation Alliance for projects merging preservation and accessibility. He also serves as the co-chair of the Boston Society of Architects’ Access Committee. Mr. Safdie is a Visiting Associate Professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where his teaching was recognized with a 2013 Berkeley Prize Teaching Fellowship in Universal Design.

Hazel Ryerson, CAPS
Hazel Ryerson is a Job Captain and Project Designer KMA. She focuses on residential design projects utilizing Universal Design and Aging-in-Place principles. Hazel focuses on clear communication with clients and builders through all phases of a project, starting with initial schematic design all the way through construction. She is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist. In her spare time Hazel is active in affordable housing advocacy.

^{Image: Kessler McGuinness & Associates, LLC}

For those who qualify, 1.5 LU/HSWs are available.

To learn more about the Design for Aging Committee, visit architects.org/committees/design-aging-committee.

To learn more about the Access Committee, visit architects.org/committees/access-committee.

Click Register to attend, or RSVP to [email protected]