LiveWell

Since 1992, the dementia specialists at LiveWell have focused exclusively on supporting individuals at all stages of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Multi-faceted updates will define the next generation of support, helping people live well.  The LiveWell campus offers residential care, community services and resources for people living with dementia and their families.

The Center for Resilient Living Adult Day Programming

The Center for Resilient Living (CRL) enhances LiveWell’s adult day programming by providing purpose-built spaces to explore interests and pursue passions through classes, workshops, arts, cultural, social and wellness opportunities.  In addition to serving current LiveWell residents, the CRL extends its services to people from the surrounding community. The CRL also provides a platform for LiveWell’s monthly memory cafes, educational seminars, and other initiatives to drive positive change through research, thought leadership and education.

Destination spaces include a café, demonstration/test kitchen, greenhouse, classrooms, visual arts room, exercise equipment studio and yoga/movement studio, wellness treatment rooms, a theater, media room/learning lab, four seasons room and dining terrace. The building plan is organized around a curving central corridor that promotes transparency between the program spaces and interstitial zones.  As a new front façade to the LiveWell campus, the CRL captures outdoor space to organically form enclosed courtyards. Each is intentionally designed with a specific definition and meaning related to the adjacent interior spaces.

Glassy corridor links allow participants to see what is going on both inside and outdoors – inviting them to naturally explore and participate.  Stone and wood materials wrap from the exterior façade to the interior in several locations, encouraging users to touch, feel, and interact with the architecture.

The River Homes: A New Housing Option for People Living with Dementia

Campus updates include the introduction of the River Homes—a unique living arrangement for people with dementia who need limited support. This new housing option was the result of a planning process that provided a forum for people living with dementia to help define programming objectives.

The River Homes are four paired small houses that take advantage of surrounding views.  Each residence provides a co-living setting, for seven elders and one care partner, with all of the comforts and human scale of a traditional home.  Paired homes share a quiet room, great room and covered deck on the first floor and lounge, four-season room and green roof patio space on the second floor.

Each individual house has its own kitchen, dining and four-season room, seven elder rooms and a loft apartment for the care partner. Parking for care partners and additional campus staff is tucked under the building, hidden from the front, and accessed from the back where the grade drops down.

Elders living in the River Homes will have access to LiveWell’s Center for Resilient Living for additional engagement and enrichment opportunities, as well as the licensed assisted living care residence if additional support needs arise.

Listening to People Living with Dementia to Define Programming Priorities

Persons living with dementia were viewed as equal partners in decision-making.  Programming goals and design concepts were evaluated within the context of how these true experts defined priorities during focus groups and the design charrette.  The design result is a new senior housing option and an open and engaging collection of distinct adult day venues, each specially imagined for a unique function and creating opportunities for authentic interactions and meaningful experiences.

Honorable Mention, Environments for Aging Design Showcase