RM Sovich Architecture

We strive to create places that stimulate the intellect, touch the emotions, and engage the senses. 
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November 8, 2009

Four Fundamentals of Design for Therapeutic Gardens

I've always admired Claire Cooper Marcus' work. Over the years I've given out a half dozen copies of her book, House as Mirror of Self, and I am inspired by her healing and therapeutic gardens. Recently I've learned of a resource for therapeutic gardening on the east coast: Naomi Sachs, ASLA,Director of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network. On her blog she has detailed four important rules for creating successful and safe therapeutic gardens in the healthcare setting, specifically gardens in hospitals, nursing homes, treatment centers, hospices, and other places where people go to either get well or die gracefully in good, loving, capable hands. All places we are actively designing.

1. Design for the client (the "user").

2. Design for comfort.

3. Design for safety.

4. Design for maintenance.

She asks these questions: 
Is the space being designed for the people who will use it? 
Is the space comfortable, both physically and emotionally? 
Is the space safe? Can the space be maintained over many years? 
If yes, yes, yes, and yes, you are on the way to creating a successful healing garden.
Read the the full article and other terrific articles on Naomi's site. 

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November 7, 2009

With or Without Ornament: Home tells the Story of its Occupants.


Looking at the work of architects Adolf Loos and Christopher Alexander, they would appear to be diametrically opposed.

Adolf Loos was a rational architect who pioneered modern architecture in the early 20th century; he opposed the decorative Art Nouveau movement.  He said in 'Ornament and Crime': 'The evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects … Behold the true greatness of our age, that it can no longer bring forth ornament, We have vanquished decoration and broken through into an ornamentless world.'  

Christopher Alexander, recent winner of the Scully Prize, on the other hand has outlined specifically how to create ornament, which he argues is necessary. He says, "All people have the instinct to decorate their surroundings.....Search around the building, and find those edges and transitions which need emphasis or extra binding energy. Corners, places where materials meet, door frames, windows, main entrances, the place where one wall meets another, the garden gate, a fence -- all these are natural places which call out for ornament. Now find simple themes and apply the elements of the theme over and again to the edges and boundaries which you decide to mark. Make the ornaments work as seams along the boundaries and edges so that they knit the two sides together and make them one." 

So it may be a surprise that when it comes to furnishing a home, they are remarkably in agreement! 

As one might expect, Mr. Alexander is interested in the occupants' control over their domain. In A Pattern Language he said, ". . . lastly, when you have taken care of everything, and you start living in the places you have made, you may wonder what kinds of things to pin up on the walls. 'Decor  and the conception of "interior design" have spread so widely, that very often people forget their instinct for the things they really want to keep around them. Therefore: Do not be tricked into believing that modern decor must be slick or psychedelic, or "natural" or "modern art," or "plants" or anything else that current taste-makers claim. It is most beautiful when it comes straight from your life - the things you care for, the things that tell your story."

It is surprising, however, how similar Adolf Loos sounds on the same topic, "...I did not, thank god, grow up in such a "stylish" apartment. Every piece of furniture, every object, every thing had a story to tell, the story of our family. Our home was never finished, it developed with us, and we with it. It was certainly without "style"; that is, it had no alien, no old "style". But it did have a style, the style of its occupants, the style of our family." (Ornament and Crime, 1908)

The lesson is that when it comes to the interior design for an assisted living residence, it is important that the residents have their stories in their furnishings and that their stories may continue to develop.

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Design   Design for Aging   Home  

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November 7, 2009

Baltimore 2010: A View from 1984

25 years ago I was invited to imagine Baltimore in 2010 for the Baltimore Sunday Sun magazine. Well, 2010 will be here any minute. For Ignite Baltimore, I shared published and unpublished sketches that I created in 1984 and some ideas about Baltimore's next 25 years. This presentation is not about being 'right", but rather about possibilities. This presentation was made on October 22nd, 2009, at the Walters' Art Museum, on Charles Street, in Baltimore for Ignite Baltimore 4. The original article was written by Laura Fry and included work by architects Robert Priest, Peter Doo, and Kenneth Warwick.

At every Ignite, 16 artists, technologists, thinkers, and personalities take the stage to answer this challenge: Five minutes, 20 slides. What would you say?. The goal of Ignite Baltimore is to spark new conversations and collaborations across cultures and disciplines.  http://ignitebaltimore.com/

Comments are always welcome.

                                         
Click here to download:
Baltimore_2010_A_View_from_198.zip (3079 KB)

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October 19, 2009

Living Wall Follow-up: Monarch Academy Biofilter One of First Ten Installed in the US.

Freshly installed living wall in our design for the Monarch Academy Public Charter School in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. This is one of less than ten of these types (air filtering) of installations completed in the United States.

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Baltimore Architect   Design   Education   Green Design  

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October 12, 2009

Living Wall-Biofilter: Using Plants to Clean Air in Assisted Living

"Indoor air can be unhealthy!
VOCs are emitted as gases by a wide array of commonly used products. Examples include paints, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials, carpets and other furnishings, office equipment, carbonless copy paper, adhesives, and permanent markers. VOCs may have short- and long-term adverse health effects, and concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors."

We are working with The Furbish Company on installations of biofilters, hydroponic (soil-less) “green wall” of plants in a school and in an assisted living activity room. In a biofilter, air is drawn through the green wall, plants and beneficial microbes actively break down pollutants into their benign constituents such as water and carbon dioxide. The clean air is circulated throughout the space by a mechanical ventilation system.The Naturaire® System is an interior “plantscape” that effectively removes contaminants and improves the living environment. Diagram by Nedlaw Living Walls, the creator of the system.

For more information contact us or The Furbish Company.

If buildings can make us ill, might they instead be designed to promote wellness?  Yes.


Building section by RM Sovich Architecture.


   
Click here to download:
Fresh_Way_to_Clean_Air_in_Assi.zip (177 KB)

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Baltimore Architect   Design   Design for Aging   Green Design  

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October 10, 2009

1984 Vision of Alternative to Medical Center Relevant Today.

In "Evolution of hospice: With deep roots in history, hospice challenges our most up-to-date attitiudes" published in 1984 Rev. Charles T. Flood imagined an alternative caring environment for hospice care. The article contains lessons that are relevant to contemporary caring environments, particularly with the renewed interest in sustainable environments: hospitals, hospice, skilled nursing, and assisted living. Rev. Flood helped write the first clinical protocols for Hospice care as a therapeutic discipline in the acute care hospital. His article was a watershed in my personal and professional approach to design. 

"What is hospice care?
Early on, we all thought of hospice as a place that would be an alternative to the medical center with its cold architecture and emphasis on procedures. Visions of vine covered sanctuaries in wooded settings where patients would be surrounded by nature, have good home cooked meals and where their families could stay as long as they pleased, filled our heads." (Rev. Charles T. Flood, 1984)

Further reading:
"Evolution of hospice: With deep roots in history, hospice challenges our most up-to-date attitiudes"  Rev. Charles T. Flood (from American Journal of Hospice Care)

"A Place for Hospice Care" RM Sovich

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Design   Design for Aging   Green Design   Hospice   Senior Living   skilled nursing  

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October 6, 2009

Drawing Together with Seniors to Create a Community.

At Highlands Crossing, the first Senior Cooperative housing developed in Arkansas with CDC Bentonville/Bella Vista and NCB|Capital Impact, the word  'cooperative' became more than a financial or social term; it inspired the method that allowed us to include the residents into the design process. 

We began with a charrette in which the design team worked with a group of 50 couples who were interested in purchasing a cooperative apartment. In the first meeting the architects' distributed construction paper and asked the seniors to draw 'what they wanted most in the new building'. The drawing exercise took many seniors out of their comfort zones.

The results were enlightening to the entire development team. We created 59 individual homes and a community. The unexpected lesson to us was discovering the power of drawing together with the residents. Having them share their visions with one another led us all to a deeper appreciation of one another and to the creation of new friendships for the residents. One participant was a retired architect who carefully illustrated his hopes for the common areas. Below are some of the 50 drawings made by the residents and development team.

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Design   Design for Aging   Senior Living  

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October 5, 2009

Thinking About "Time" in Long Term Care Settings.

In childhood we measured time in comparison to phenomena. Time varied depending on a number of factors, some are described in the following quote from Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman:

“Suppose that time is not a quantity but a quality,... Time exists, but it cannot be measured. In a world where time is a quality, events are recorded by the color of the sky,... the feeling of happiness or fear when a person comes into the room. Likewise, the time between two events is long or short, depending on the background of contrasting events, the intensity of illumination, the degree of light and shadow, the view of the participants.”

Years ago, a client informed me that "the elderly like to watch cars going by on the interstate".  The way it was presented was that it was an activity.   Lightman's description of time shows that it isn't an activity; movement and change in a view help ground the elderly residents' perception of time.  

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Design   Design for Aging   Green Design   Senior Living   skilled nursing  

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October 1, 2009

Lessons from the Skin Horse: Creating Homeyness in Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing.

I was reminded of this quote yesterday in a conversation with a client with whom we are designing a home for recovering women. The quote is from the Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams. It seems we both still have fond memories of reading this story to our children, long after they've grown. The Skin Horse gives us insight on becoming real and as I believe, becoming "real home". 

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse.  "You become.  It takes a long time.  That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Creating a home doesn't happen all at once, no matter what you see on home improvement shows. Likewise, creating hominess in assisted living and skilled nursing is going to happen over time. Care providers and designers should remember the lessons of the Skin Horse:

  1. Allow for life to happen in the places you create. My personal affects may be ugly to people who don't understand, but, to me they are real and support memories. 
  2. Plan so people won't break, slip, or become confused by your design.
  3. No sharp edges. Please.
  4. Select materials, furniture, and finishes that will wear well, and will still look good when they are worn, loose in the joints and a bit shabby. And some shabby is okay. My friend's Wassily Chair from the late 1920's has leather that is soft and sagging and edges are worn. It feels loved.

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Design   Design for Aging   Green Design  

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September 22, 2009

Right Sizing Assisted Living Apartments

An assisted living apartment is a study of public and private spatial organization in a compact enclosure. This is true whether the apartment is a studio, one bedroom or two bedroom. The market trend toward a mix of one and two bedroom dwelings and no studios is a response to consumer expectations, and includes those in the affordable assisted living market.   


There is no single solution to designing an assisted living apartment.  Create distinct areas in the apartment: an entry area, a place to store clothes, a place to store a wheelchair, a fully accessible bath with shower, a kitchenette with a refrigerator, sink and microwave, a sitting/living room area, and a bedroom area in each apartment. This emphasizes the homey-ness of the dwelling. And watch the outside corners- please use only rounded corners!


While each state's minimum requirement varies, a dwelling of approximately 400 square feet, with 200 square feet of clear area is ideal. Building dwelling units of this size as a minimum allows lenders to more favorably regard the project as convertible to apartments as opposed to a single use structure.


The Pennsylvania Assisted Living Consumer Alliance has issued a position paper on room size and the state of Arkansas encourages the 400 square foot size. 

http://www.paassistedlivingconsumeralliance.org/images/position_papers/living_unit.pdf

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Filed under  //   Architecture   Assisted Living   Design   Design for Aging   Senior Living  

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