Longwood at Oakmont: Hanna Healthcare Center
Citation Award Recipient
RLPS Architects

The most influential driver to the project was the owner's vision and conviction to creating both a resident-centered care operation and a supportive physical environment that embraces flexibility and resident self-determination. View the project profile.

Air Force Villages
Citation Award Recipient
Perkins Eastman

Air Force Villages initiated a repositioning of its two self-contained campuses. The strategic plan focused on addressing future marketability of housing options as well as amenities for residents. The resulting plan integrated the campuses, allowing each to stand as a neighborhood within a larger combined context of the Air Force Villages' community. View the project profile.

Features

Aging In Place In The Built Environment
By Dave Boeck for The Norman Transcript

I came here young and energetic, with my vision of what it would be to practice architecture once I finished school. The idea of disabilities and sickness and frailty were definitely abstract in nature. All I understood was that we get old, sick and die and that was the nature of life. Since most old people in my life were distant, I had no idea as to how they thought about the process they were going through. I just really didn't understand it or have time to deal with and think about it. I was busy learning to be an architect. Read the article online.

New Numbers on Elder Care
By Paula Span for The New York Times

It began in 2003, but only last year did the bureau start asking about a key activity for millions of people - elder care. The recently released 2011 results reveal how many millions of us are involved: In the past three months, 39.8 million people over age 15 have provided unpaid care to someone over 65 "because of a condition related to aging."

I was about to hail this new category as a milestone, evidence of federal officials' recognizing and finally quantifying the massive economic and social contributions of unpaid family (and sometimes non-family) caregivers. Not so, Stephanie Denton, an economist with the bureau, told me: The agency wanted to include elder care in the survey from the start and made earlier attempts, but "it was a slow process and a small staff." Read the article online.

Aging in place
By Elizabeth Gold for Boulder County Business Report

Baby boomers are redefining aging in the same way they've redefined a lot of what was status quo until they arrived on the scene. As they slip into the golden years, the generation is clear about one thing: Remaining in their own homes indefinitely is the goal. They want their parents to have the same advantage. To make that happen, it's necessary to live in an environment that makes living safe and accessible as well as to be healthy. Read the article online.

Absolutely Accessible
By Zach Mortice for AIArchitect

Ask an architect about universal design today, and you'll hear about the ADA, wheelchair ramps, and grab bars. But a growing number of architects have expanded the definition beyond design for physical disabilities. They want to ensure that spaces work for people of all possible physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities. "This is the next movement towards sustainability," says Jim Warner, FAIA, 2011 chair of the AIA's Design for Aging Knowledge Community. Read the article online.

Submit an Article

We are inviting all of you to consider writing or repurposing one or more articles for the next Blueprints. What can you write about? Anything! Anything, that is, that is related to DFA.

All we ask is that you send us the title of your proposed article, a link (if already published), and a short paragraph describing its contents. If more than one paper is proposed on the same topic or similar topics, we may suggest that the two writers collaborate on one paper.

Call for Presentations:
2013 Environments for Aging Conference

Environments for Aging brings together developers, owners, design professionals, product manufacturers, academia, aging specialists, and government officials to explore new ideas for creating places that support people as they age. Environments for Aging is developed by professionals who are day-to-day advocates and champions for the improvement of health care and life experiences for the aging population.

This premier event is the most comprehensive conference in the industry offering attendees a state-of-the-art multi-track, multi-disciplinary learning event. Attendees benefit from access to the latest and best information from thought leaders and innovators within the field of aging.

Presentation proposals are now being sought for this conference. Submit a speaking proposal.

The deadline for submissions is August 10, 2012 5 p.m. PST

With an eye on the 2013 AIA Convention in Denver, the AIA Young Architects Forum and Committee on Design begin an ideas competition with public health in mind.

Competition entries are due by Aug. 31 and winners will be notified in October. The first prize winner will receive a complimentary registration to the 2013 AIA Convention, including travel and hotel expenses up to $1,500. Second prize is $1,000 and third prize is $500.

Learn more about the competition.

2012 LeadingAge Annual Meeting & Exposition
Denver, CO | October 21-24 | Learn more

MatherLifeways: Café Plus Workshop and "How-To" Manual
Evanston, IL | November 6-7 | Register now

A National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition (ErgoExpo)
Las Vegas, NV | December 4-7 | www.ergoexpo.com

View the entire AIA webinars calendar.