Humanistic Design of Assisted Living Review

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(More customer reviews)The book is disappointing at several levels. First, the books research base is old, essentially the mid-90's and earlier, and fails to cover the field broadly in text or bibliography. Second, the underlying argument, cited at least twice, is that architect's, as practitioners, are not capable of asking the correct questions for design, therefore the 'researcher' must ask the critical questions for the practitioner (p. 29). To support this position, he cites the mis-statements of art historians rather than practitioners. Both issues leave the design guidelines both old and incompleat as new research offers new insight.
Finally, the central theme of humanistic assisted living facilites uses tricks (tactics)such as exterior shutters or smaller windows to make a large facility humanisitic rather than discussing such concepts (strategies) as Ecogenic housing (Pastalan)that inherently reduces scale and focuses on the individuals fundamental living environment. As a practitioner of 40 years and a recent Ph.D. candidate in this field, I find the book misleading, incomplete and divisive to the concept of bridging research into practice for the best good to society and the profession.
Michael H. Trautman, Architect
BArch (1965), Ph.D. candidacy (2007)umich.

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Assisted living, a relatively new industry, provides an alternative to traditional long-term care. These residences serve the increasing numbers of elders who need help with daily activities but wish to maintain independence. Although they are promoted as resident centered and noninstitutional, research based on consumer input indicates that many older adults and their family members do not find the buildings to be particularly friendly, warm, or supportive InHumanistic Design of Assisted Living, John P. Marsden has translated research-based information into innovative and practicable design strategies that directly address those unfavorable perceptions. Marsden provides an overview of assisted living's evolution then addresses the current information resources available to designers. He discusses successful humanistic design and presents a conceptual framework, based on consumer-based research, composed of six themes: familiar housing cues, protective enclosure, caring cues, human scale, usability, and naturalness. He applied this framework to specific guidelines for building exteriors, interior entries, and common shared spaces. His recommendations are supported by photographs that demonstrate effective design strategies as well as some less-successful examples.This comprehensive and accessible book presents essential design guidelines for housing owners, operators, administrators, policy makers, gerontologists, interior designers, and architects. (2006)

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