COMMUNAL FACILITY DESIGN FOR THE SINGAPOREAN ELDER

Abstract

The need for community facilities catered specially for the senior Singaporean will increase as more citizens retire to the local housing estates when they age. However, senior-oriented facilities should not simply focus on healthcare and eldercare, as is the case in Singapore’s estates now. In this paper, recreational based communal facilities are proposed as the means for an elder to seek friends, find peer support, help each other and engage in enjoyable activities confidently during their free time. While a number of other recreational facilities also exist in HDB estates, most are outdoors, fitness based and therefore lack variety for elderly residents to engage in a broad range of activities. Affordability is also another critical issue in encouraging activities as elders prefer keeping their savings to meet medical needs. Facilities, such as those which exist in community centres, incur costs – participation, material or transportation – and will not engage more elders than the existing pool of aged members. The communal facilities proposed in this paper are not intended to be institutionalized centres for providing eldercare and services, but rather, to encourage through convenient infrastructures, an independent and active lifestyle in the Singaporean elder, helping him/her to cultivate hobbies, take an interest in the neighbourhood, all while enjoying the retirement years comfortably at home.