Community-oriented senior housing designed to combat isolation and loneliness.

Detailed Description:
Affordable, healthy, sustainable senior housing should be at the forefront of our minds. Silver Sage is a place that combines the autonomy of private homes with the advantages of community living in one of the first successful senior cohousing communities in the U.S. Residents participated in designing their ideal neighborhood, where outdoor areas are an extension of private homes, and a common house provides amenities such as a large kitchen, dining room, lounge, laundry room, and guest rooms.

Know drawbacks of design:
None known.

Website:
http://www.silversagevillage.com/index.html, http://www.cohousingco.com/

Designed in:
2007

Status of realization:
Prototype

Keywords:
communication, energy, environment, health, housing, leisure, lifestyle, social

Form
Silver Sage Village is made up of one large building and two smaller buildings that encircle a large central courtyard with an ampitheater, vegetable garden, and open space for large community events. Beautiful plants and landscaping in the courtyard compliment and highlight the sleek geometric forms in the architecture. The colors of the building draw from the natural surroundings – sky blue, cream, terra cotta. Dark metal and natural wood contrast and compliment these colors. Spaces are laid out so that one can have privacy within their own home, yet they have a view of the common house and outdoors where community life is happening – allowing residents to choose between as much privacy or community as they want and need. The 16 private homes in the community are small, but functional – open floor plans allow for flexible arrangement of furniture/rooms and the gourmet kitchen, guest rooms, laundry room, and other amenities in the 3900 sf common house supplement the private units.

Impact
Residents worked with architect Charles Durrett to design a community-oriented neighborhood - a place where residents gain acceptance and fulfillment by living and cooperating with neighbors to support and draw on diverse perspectives and strengths. One resident asks “What makes this sustainable neighborhood lifestyle better for both the residents and the world?…The value lies in the opportunity to efficiently deepen and get more out of our everyday lives through our relationships with a diverse group of interesting and proactive neighbors. Much of this is accomplished by living in a closely connected, relatively well organized and self managed neighborhood with common assets to share and to manage…The value of the social capital that is created through that process…makes the extra effort worth it. These benefits include: more friends and an enriched lifestyle; economies of sharing with our neighbors; and, a more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable lifestyle.”

Context
Although senior cohousing is a small and little understood segment of the American housing market, examples in other countries, particularly in Denmark, demonstrate that it is a great way to live. Silver Sage Village is a cohousing community that demonstrates a better way to house our aging population in the US – helping them to be less isolated, more independent, more engaged, and better supported by people who really care about them. Seniors at Silver Sage are provided an affordable housing option where they can stay active, self-sufficient, and avoid depression as they age. The common house and the many shared resources available to residents provide them with everything they need close by, without having to maintain everything themselves – helping seniors to downsize without being inconvenienced. Silver Sage Village provides an affordable hosing option to seniors who want to stay active, self-sufficient, and avoid aging in a lonely, isolated, and dependent environment.

Other relevant information
Affordability and sustainability have received little mention thus far. Out of 16 units 37%, are deed restricted to be affordable. More expensive units offset the costs of affordable units, though all units were designed with minimizing costs in mind. Part of that meant designing buildings with low costs after move in. Super insulation, daylighting, efficient windows, sustainably harvested lumber, low-flow plumbing, and more result in low energy bills and resource conservation.

Proven and/or potential effects:
"The Senior Cohousing Handbook" states: “We clearly must have a variety of options to satisfactorily fit the needs and priorities of different individuals…A growing number of older adults and baby boomers are rebelling against the threat of spending their final years lonely and bored, wondering who will take care of them…Living in self-managed communities of peers, as in an elder cohousing community, can give people an entirely new positive experience in this period of life. Respondents reported feeling affirmed through the sense that they are valued and capable of being productive, worthwhile, and important to others, no matter what their condition…with the support of concerned friends and supplemental home care, many will be able to remain at home, and out of institutions.”

Is the design protected by patent or ip registration?
none

How has the development of the design been financed hereunto?
Personal investment

Is there a plan for future investments?
No

Is there in-house competencies to secure market roll out of the design, with regards to investment, distribution, sales, etc.?
No

Designed by:
Charles Durrett, AIA, Principal Architect, www.cohousingco.com, Licensed Architect and Firm owner, United States of America, Nevada City, California, USA, McCamant & Durrett Architects
Bryan Bowen, P.C., Architect, local architect of record and collaborator for Silver Sage Village, www.bryanbowenarchitects.com, Licensed Architect and Firm owner, United States of America, Boulder, Colorado, USA, Bryan Bowen Architects
Wonderland Hill Development, Developer, http://www.whdc.com/, Developer, United States of America, Boulder, Colorado, USA, Wonderland Hill Development Company