The programme for the proposed retirement community will be divided into three main masses. The first mass will house the semi-assisted living quarters and the ground-floor commercial space. The second mass will house the fully-assisted living quarters, the overlapping communal spaces, and the after-school care facility.
05: PROJECT BRIEF, PROGRAMME, AND ACCOMMODATION
The third mass is the publicly accessible space on the ground floor.
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FIGURE 5.1: Programme
5.2 USER CLASSIFICATION: The proposed retirement community will host various people throughout the facility. The elderly residents will make up the core demographic of the community, with the young people at the after-school care facility being the next significant demographic. The public will be the third demographic. This is not to exclude the retirement community’s staff.
• Elderly Residents: The elderly are the community’s full-time residents who will live on the premises, where they can choose to stay in either the semi-assisted units or the fully assisted units. The community will allow the resident the freedom to choose whether they want to partake in the social interactions throughout the facility. Social interaction is encouraged due to the elderly residents being the first key connection for intergenerational learning. The residents can contribute to the community through activities that vary in skill-level requirements, such as helping with homework and reading, teaching the children how to cook and bake, helping the children with gardening activities, offering workshops for specific fields of interest (such as painting, sketching, knitting, music, etc.), or simply helping at the after-school care facility through supervision or reading. Examples of the intergenerational connections for the elderly residents: • A retired librarian with a passion for reading and books, who lives on the premises, could work two days a week in the after-school care facility’s library • A doctor from Eugene Marais Hospital could offer first aid classes and help teach the children and elderly how to identify the signs of a stroke or heart attack • A retired experienced artist, who lives near the premises, could offer painting and sketching classes to the residents and the children • Nursing students could work in the community to gain experience in regards to caring for elderly patients • A retired math teacher, who lives on the premises, could give extra math classes to the children at the after-school care facility • A computer-whizz-kid at the after-school care facility could show the residents how to perform basic tasks on a computer.
05: PROJECT BRIEF, PROGRAMME, AND ACCOMMODATION
5.1 PROGRAMME:
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