A large majority of older people wish to live in non-institutionalized housing for as long as possible. However, current homes are generally not suitable for later life, leading us to rethink our living environments to support health and wellbeing. Architects, in that regard, have a key role to play. Yet, to date, they seem to have a limited knowledge of emotion-related users’ preferences, which could be the consequence of a frequent lack of care perspectives in design teaching, as well as a difficulty to pick up and translate research findings into practice. This study therefore sought to understand how (interior) architecture students design housing that facilitates ageing well in place, when they are prompted to consider older people’s needs/aspirations more holistically. We conducted design exercises with 16 students from two architecture schools and we fed their reflections with “theoretical key themes” and “personas”. These inputs were nurtured by a literature review on “ageing well in place” and focus groups organized with multidisciplinary experts. At the end of the exercise, the students completed a questionnaire to summarize their design considerations. The results focus on the preeminent spatial features designed by students to meet inhabitant’s needs, as well as some pedagogical aspects of the workshops. The paper finally concludes by recommandations to train future architects to design living environments with an eye for ageing well in place.

This study focuses on research about the spatial and social living environment of elderly with care demand. It developed from the urge for new ways of thinking about the design of care for elderly in neighborhoods and houses. In a collaboration between an architectural school of education and a social housing association housing the elderly, an interdisciplinary research method to come to new models for elderly living was developed. The study describes the method and main findings. In the Netherlands the demographic transition to an aging society runs parallel with transitions in the policy and practice of elderly care. Due to a steep rise in the cost of care and a shortage of staff, care moves away from institutional buildings and organizations towards a more informal support network with professionals in the background. The research questions addressed in this study concern the everyday life of elderly needing care. Within a one-week stay in a nursing- or elderly care home, participating in the daily life, we aim to get answers through anthropological and par-ticipatory research to understand, document and visualize the needs and living conditions of elderly today. Finally, these data are translated into architectural design. We claim that the person whom we design for should be the first to meet and talk to. In that way we learn about their wishes, needs and capabilities. This argument was our starting point of collaboration. Our methodology leads to unexpected results. The study will show main findings and topics of discussion.