It wasn’t that long ago when every home had a landline telephone, and cell phones were considered a luxury. Today, much of the technology that worked 20 or even 10 years ago is outdated. The same is true for senior living. Many of the amenities that used to attract residents are woefully inadequate today – a single spacious dining hall, a game room for Bingo, and a swimming pool aren’t enough to meet their needs, interests, and expectations. However, many communities have ‘good bones’ and can be repositioned or renovated for seniors today and for years to come.

As senior living communities evolve, master planning must focus on fostering engagement, collaboration, and long-term well-being. Whether individuals reside in an active adult community, a senior living development, or independently within a broader neighborhood, providing access to integrated support systems is key to successful aging. One model gaining traction is the Village-to-Village Network, grassroots, community-based approach that enables older adults to age in place with confidence and support.

While we cannot stop or turn back the clock, Pi Architects designs active adult communities that enable people to age in spaces that meet their needs and interests, providing residents with services and amenities that focus on well-being and longevity, empowering residents to live more vibrant lives. It is about creating communities, places where people feel at home and connected to those around them.

In active adult communities, the design must reflect the mindset of a generation that sees aging differently. These residents often view themselves as youthful, energetic, and far from retirement age in the traditional sense. As a result, the communities that appeal to them must be vibrant and full of life.

Designing a vibrant and in-demand senior living community is easy when there are no limits. In the real world, financial, operational, and scheduling constraints are a given. That’s where master planning becomes essential. It helps prioritize what’s possible now while laying the groundwork for future growth, innovation, and community needs. It enables you to determine what you can do now and helps create a timeline to realize additional plans, desires, and visions of the community.

It’s an eternal conundrum. The budget is limited, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to hopes, dreams, and expectations. This can be a challenge in senior living when residents and prospective members dream big, but their dreams cost money, and the coffers aren’t overflowing. However, a combination of engagement, listening, transparency, and thoughtful compromise can enable facilities to make small innovations, bigger renovations done over time or in phases, and viable options to limit costs while maintaining quality and satisfaction. All this calls for a master plan and a team with design, marketing, customer service, leadership, communication, and negotiation skills. This can be especially useful in older communities where no significant changes or updates have been made in several years.

The Summer Solstice arrives this Saturday, marking the beginning of summer and the longest day of the year. June 21st, at 4:42:02 AM to be exact. With 93 days of summer comes the desire to get outside and enjoy the warm weather and sunny days. Our team has some inspiring ideas to help senior living residents embrace the joys of summer and make the most of the summer fun!

A recent article in Forbes included our friend Michele Holleran’s predictions about the future of senior living. As we discussed in our recent conversation with Michele, there are still some uncertainties; however, it’s clear that builders, owners, operators, and others will need to rethink how they build, reposition/renovate, and market senior living to appeal to a changing demographic of older adults.

As we gather around tables with family, friends, and loved ones this Thanksgiving, Pi Architects’ team wants to reflect on this past year's progress, growth, and purpose. This holiday is a special time to pause, appreciate what we have, and look forward with gratitude and excitement for what’s yet to come. We have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. We have had the opportunity to partner with visionaries and organizations to design communities and spaces that promote comfort, purpose, and well-being. We are also incredibly fortunate to have a team of passionate, talented, and creative professionals – specialists across all major design disciplines, architecture, interior design, repositioning, development, master planning, and longevity.

Changing trends, some ongoing challenges, and cautious optimism are on the agenda for senior living industry leaders, and Pi’s Greg Hunteman and a panel of experts addressed all of these during “Emerging Trends in Operations, Development, Repositioning,” a Good People Power Talk program.

Master planning is like knowing in advance where all the pieces go before you start the puzzle. More precisely, it is a vision and a road map built from the information and optics of a community’s operations, market needs and standards, and cost realities that must all be harmoniously combined with inspiration.

Make no mistake. While master planning builds on what has and hasn’t worked in the past and uses these to create a strategy and a template for success, this is by no means a rubber stamp or a cookie-cutter approach to design. With master planning, you save the time, money, and challenges involved in trying to reinvent the wheel for every project. However, the wheel remains unique for each building.

Like so many aspects of senior living, pools have evolved. No longer are these just for lounging or swimming. Increasingly, the design and features of a pool and the surroundings are carefully thought out and planned or can result in an expensive unused, and high-maintenance amenity that does little to attract prospects. Before making an investment in a pool, communities need to determine how residents want to use the amenity and what features or accessories will be needed.