It’s not only awards season in Hollywood. This time of year home builders take a bow and show off their best work, too.
The finest examples of new homes for older people were recently announced by the 50+ Housing Council of the National Association of Home Builders. The group presented 132 awards to home projects noted for their excellence and innovation.
The winners are worth a look because they showcase the wide range of housing possibilities as we age. As such, your future homestead may not be an exercise in trying to convince yourself that less is more. The winning projects are big and beautiful.
The awards were given in every category of housing for older people from for-sale condominiums to assisted-living buildings. A 13-member panel of architects, builders, designers and other specialists judged the projects.
Several trends among the winners were noteworthy, according to architect Richard Rosen, who heads the builder’s 50+ Housing Council.
“People want more space,” said Rosen, who works at the architecture firm of Perkins Eastman in New York City. Buildings now rarely include studio apartments, unless they’re in subsidized or so-called affordable buildings.
People who are downsizing and can afford it want at least two bedrooms, and usually also a den, Rosen said. He noted that homes meant for older people are starting to include three-car garages to house the boats and sports cars that aging Baby Boomers aren’t ready to give up.
Another trend is that developments are being planned to function more like old cities. Instead of just building a community center, developers are starting to create real town centers, Rosen said.
He likens the design to a New England town square. The idea is that residents can walk to the town center for social or fitness activities, instead of driving.
Among the most intriguing winners were those in the innovation category — a peek into the future of housing for elders.
An innovation award was won by the Grand Rapids Dominicans Marywood Health Center, a new assisted-living building in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The building was designed the Chicago office of Perkins Eastman. Architects Jerry Walleck and Joe Hassel worked on the project.
The building houses retired Dominican Sisters, but it was designed to eventually be marketed to the public as the population of sisters declines.
The 51-unit building was a standout, the judges said, because “everything about it challenges conventional thinking.”
The Marywood Health Center has a modern design, in contrast to many new assisted-living buildings which, at least on the outside, look like supersize Colonial mansions. Yet the building avoided the sterile feel many people associate with a modern style.
Warm materials — wood, stone and carpet — were used on the interior, according to architect Walleck. The building, with its big windows, was configured to show the meadows and forest just beyond the building walls.
“Residents have a direct visual connection to the outside,” Walleck said.
An inventive feature of the building is its hallways. The corridors aren’t straight but undulating.
There’s lots of complaining in the senior housing industry about the so-called double-leaded corridors. This design has rooms on either side of a straight hallway — more reminiscent of a hospital or institution than a house.
With its staggered walls, the Marywood corridors create a series of places to stop at resident rooms and common areas, such as a small kitchen or a library.
“We created different destination points along the corridor,” Hassel said.
Another innovation winner was Twain’s Point at Adams Landing by Towne Properties Ltd. in Cincinnati. The town home project is built on a sliver of land overlooking the Ohio River.
Brian Bortz, vice president of development at Towne Properties, said the narrow site couldn’t accommodate ranch-style homes, so elevators were included in each of the 26 three-story town homes.
Early in the marketing process, the elevators were offered as an option. But Bortz said his company decided to include the elevator as a standard feature.
The elevator sits under the stairs in what would have been a storage closet. The elevator holds two people comfortably.
The elevator added about $20,000 to the cost of a unit, in a development where the average sale price of a 3,400-square-foot unit was about $750,000.
Bortz said that it’s much easier to include an elevator in the original design than trying to retrofit one at a later date. For now, he doesn’t think the empty-nesters are using their elevators much except to shuttle groceries from the garage level to the kitchen on the second floor.
But, he said, “People loved the idea of the elevator.”
Architect Rosen expects to see more elevators in houses for older people. Builders will have little choice, he said. Land near cities is expensive and hard to find, so builders must build up.
“Elevators will make multi-story living possible,” Rosen said.
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Jane Adler is a Chicago-area freelance writer. If you have questions or information to share regarding housing for senior citizens, write to Senior Housing, c/o Chicago Tribune Real Estate Section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Or, e-mail realestate@tribune.com
