Designing for Aging: Patterns of Use

Howell, Sandra C.

ISBN 10: 0262081075 / ISBN 13: 9780262081078

Published by Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987. Reprint. 2nd printing. Hardcover. 329 pages., 1987

About this Item

Provides guidelines for design process based on actual tenant behaviors and uses of space in housing for older people. B/w illustrations throughout. Fine/Fine. Clean, tight, unmarked. Dj in protective mylar sleeve. Item # B4544. **SAVE MORE** Additional books in the same order ship for FREE via Standard Shipping.

Seller Inventory # B4544

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Designing for Aging: Patterns of Use
• Publisher: Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987. Reprint. 2nd printing. Hardcover. 329 pages.
• Publication Date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0262081075
• ISBN 13: 9780262081078
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Architecture

About this title

Synopsis

This book provides guidelines for the design process based upon actual tenant behaviors and uses of space in housing for older people. It sets forth new or neglected issues which should concern program planners, housing developers and designers with regard to the impact and future marketability of these special-purpose settings. A product of a five-year HEW study which won the 1979 Progressive Architecture Award Competition in architectural research, this book contains the behavioral evidence on which alternative design solutions ought to be decided.

Designing for Aging describes and interprets the responses of a large national sample of residents living in apartment buildings across the United States which conform to Federal Minimum Property Standards. In addition, an in-depth analysis of carefully selected specific spaces and their use by tenants was conducted in Cambridge, Massachusetts sites. Hundreds of hours of research time were spent in on-site observations and interviews with older inhabitants of government-subsidized housing. The techniques used to collect and analyze data are made explicit throughout the book for the benefit of professional readers and also in an attempt to demystify the research process and to open it to critical review. Howell notes, "the most important point that this material should convey is that older people need variations in the space in which they live." She argues that this necessitates not so much additional square footage as more careful spatial definition on the part of designers.

Contents: Introduction; Housing and the Stages of Life; The Bases for Standardization of Built Environments; Studying Effects of Standardized Housing on Behavior; Case Studies of Elderly Housing; Guidelines for Programming and Design Review; Social Uses of Space; Private Space and Personal Identity; Age and Habitability; Index.