Long may we live!
A multifaceted subject
The history of designing housing for the elderly is closely related to political, economic and sociological processes. Depending on financing and changes in legislation, housing for the elderly has been provided by institutions, private bodies or pensioners themselves.
As Western Europe has become more prosperous, average life expectancy has increased and the percentage of pensioners in society is growing. Our ageing population forces us to think about housing for the elderly on a range of levels, from planology, urban planning and landscape design to interior design.
During the course of the twentieth century, old age became the subject of study of a range of disciplines, including geriatrics, psychology, sociology and anthropology. We now know much more, for example, about the influence of interior and exterior spaces on pensioners’ wellbeing. How can future developments such as robotics and automation play a role in housing for the elderly and how do they relate to a human living environment? The increasing involvement of various disciplines in housing for the elderly over the years has been part of a lengthy process of the cultural integration of old age in society. Various different attempts have been made to combine care with the maintenance of vitality, social integration and personal lifestyles.
Care home for the elderly in Bussum (1919) K.P.C. de Bazel
In 1919 the Godelinde Foundation commissioned K.P.C. de Bazel to design a new care home for the elderly in Bussum. In ad...
➝ Read moreHousing for the Elderly (1951) Friesland Foundation for Social Work
Much was written on the subject of housing for the elderly after the Second World War. This report discusses the relatio...
➝ Read moreThe Ageing of the Netherlands (1965) Netherlands Federation for Elderly Care
The report The Ageing of the Netherlands by medical expert B. Krol was published in 1965. Its findings fitted within the...
➝ Read moreNieuw Amstelhof room (1966) J.W.H.C. Pot and J.F. Pot-Keegstra
Architects Pot & Pot-Keegstra specialised in designing housing for the elderly. One of their many projects was the desig...
➝ Read moreCompetition for a chair for the elderly (1968)
In 1968 the Central Union of Furniture Manufactures held a national competition to design a comfortable chair for the av...
➝ Read moreDesign for a wheelchair (1960)
The designer of this wheelchair is not known. The drawing was made to record the dimensions of an existing wheelchair. W...
➝ Read moreHot meals for pensioners (1965) Netherlands Federation for Elderly Care
In the 1970s nutrition became an important subject in elderly care. In this brochure, the Netherlands Federation for Eld...
➝ Read moreModel homes (1965) Stichting Goed Wonen
This model home shows how a well-furnished home for a pensioner should look. The floor should be easy to clean and the f...
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