Industry Voices

Seniors housing designers must consider operations, programming and trends. By Dean Maddalena It’s important to understand how the interior design industry responds to changes and challenges. These external demands provide designers with opportunities to think in creative ways to satisfy conventional and emerging requirements. For over 15 years the design teams at StudioSIX5 have gathered to discuss the design, cultural and operational issues that have arisen and begun to take hold in the senior living vernacular. In addition to senior living, they look to the allied fields of hospitality, multifamily …

Eclectic owner-operator tries to bring fresh eyes to senior living. By Jeff Shaw At first, Dwayne Clark wasn’t particularly interested in seniors housing. Of course, this was in the mid-1980s “before assisted living was assisted living,” as he put it. But with some encouragement from his sister, he joined West Coast senior living trailblazer Leisure Care. After a stint with another industry giant, Sunrise Senior Living, Clark decided he wanted to start his own company and launched Áegis Living in 1996. In the years since, Áegis has grown from a …

By Jess Madison, contributing writer on aging It’s no secret that residents of long-term care facilities have been the hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic. While the coronavirus’ impact on nursing homes is most commonly referenced in news reports, the virus has hit assisted living and other long-term care facilities similarly hard. Statistics show elder-care residents account for some two in five U.S. deaths, and that one in 20 residents has already died from the virus. On one hand, it makes sense: Long-term care facilities are home to some of …