The Arcadia

Population ageing has been one of the major social challenges in the 21st Century. While people are expected to have longer lives, the quality of later life varies greatly from countries to social groups, especially for built environment. In Hong Kong, the current social system focuses on supporting grass root seniors. On the other hand, the unaordable price
of private senior housing made it impossible for middle class older adults to enjoy high quality of life. They are ignored under the current social welfare system.

In light of this, this project thus proposes a new model of senior housing, which includes a nancial model that can create a self-sustainable community with aordable price for possible buyers.

In order to full both the mental and physical needs of elderly, young old and old old can live together in this senior housing, which provides an environment that they can take care of each other. The senior housing can be separated into three parts. At the bottom, there are public communal facilities, which are covered by a gently sloping green roof that is responsible for the semi-public program. On top
of that are the residential blocks. There are layers of communal spaces around the building, which are connected by a ramp on the green roof, attracting residents to exercise by creating a journey during the walk.

During the research phase, the preference of elements in senior housing and the issues of program sharing are investigated, contributing to our design of the senior residential unit. Older adults pay strong emphasis on safety, and they want to stay in the familiar community. Ageing in place with a simple layout providing high exibility is therefore proposed for the unit layout, where residents can customise the layout of furniture to suit their personal needs during ageing, hence creating a elderly friendly living environment.