ASID Committee on Adaptive Living Releases Resource Guide

The American Society of Interior Designers released its first Senior Living Resource Guide, addressing the role of interior design professionals to consider the health and well-being of older individuals who want to live autonomously. Developed by ASID’s Committee on Adaptive Living, the guide provides insight on the challenges of senior living communities and offers design solutions for practitioners to adopt as they support this demographic in the built environment.

The ASID Committee on Adaptive Living was established in 2022 to promote adaptive design solutions for older adults living in community-based and multi-generational environments, following the impact felt by aging populations from the COVID-19 crisis on commercial and residential spaces.

Later this year, ASID’s Committee on Adaptive living will issue a companion guide to address residential living formats, including single family, co-living and modular applications and mixed-use typologies. The guide will focus on utilizing a universal design approach for all household zones, using their principles of design for healthy community living.

Through the collection and review of journalistic reports and institutional findings published during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Senior Living Resource Guide reflects input from medical doctors and healthcare specialists.

Eight principles for the design of healthy community living addressed in the new guide include: designing for autonomy, alleviating isolation, prioritizing connectivity, facilitating engagement, integrating wellness, elevating building systems, emphasizing attainability and leading stakeholder collaboration.

The guide is free for ASID members and $99 for non-members. For more details, visit asid.org.