When adults reach a certain age, the world can feel like a pretty uninhabitable place. Long stairwells, narrow doorways and high entryways can all do a number on achy knees and hips. Philadelphia knows this all too well. The stoops and narrow rowhomes dotting Philly's most storied neighborhoods become difficult as home owners age, and a group of designers and activists think it's time for a change.
Examining this issue is the
Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, a state-funded group working to make Philadelphia safer for seniors. On Friday, PCA's Visitability Committee, in partnership with the
Community Design Collaborative and
Philadelphia's Office of Housing and Community Development, unveiled the results of
"Visitability for Urban Neighborhoods," a design charette searching for a home building model that would benefit older homeowners as they age.
"People think of senior housing as high-rises, subsidized housing," says PCA Director of Housing Susan Klein. But over 80 percent of seniors in Philadelphia own their own homes. What I see is that we keep on building places as if people are going to live 'til 40 in good health and then die."
To correct these design mistakes, the charette called for a new home model that could blend in with the other rowhomes in Philly neighborhoods but would include three visitability tenets: an entrance
without a step, wider hallways and doors and a first-floor half
bathroom. Subsidized housing already uses these tenets but so far, for-profit builders have been slow to come around. This charette was intended to change their minds.
"While this is very important for seniors, if you are buying a house at 40, it also affects you," says Klein. "You may want Aunt Ann to come to Thanksgiving Dinner or you want to get a stroller through or just that you want to stay in that home forever."
Source: Susan Klein, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
Writer: John Steele