3.2 SITE CRITERIA

3.3 ZONING:

The proposed site is situated in a residential neighbourhood with predominantly one-storey houses and is in the centre of 13 close-by educational facilities ranging from pre-schools to high schools. This proximity to educational facilities and the direct connection to Mayville Pre-Primêr Kleuterskool provide the site with a direct connection with the younger generations of the surrounding context.

The entire city block to the eastern side of the proposed site consists of various medical specialists, including maxillofacial and oral surgeons, urologists, orthopaedic surgeons, paediatricians, plastic and reconstruction surgeons, cardiac and thoracic surgeons, physiotherapists, pathologists, and general practitioners. The site is adjacent to the Eugene Marais Hospital and has an almost direct connection to the hospital through the specialists’ offices and Eugene Marais Oncology Centre located next to the site. Having the retirement community site within walking distance of the hospital and its facilities will significantly benefit the elderly due to the short time it would take for a medical team to reach the facility in the case of an emergency. This proximity eliminates the need for a dedicated specialised medical bay.

The oncology centre adjacent to the site also allows residents receiving chemotherapy to reside in a care facility within walking distance of the treatment centre. Due to the amount of time it takes to receive chemotherapy, incorporating a commercial space such as a cafe or restaurant into the retirement community gives non-residents a space to wait for their loved ones receiving chemotherapy (a session can last anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours).

The apartment building on the corner of Booysen Street and Corelli Avenue also presents an opportunity to be incorporated into the community at a later phase if the retirement strategy is successful. This expansion gives the elderly of the neighbourhood alternative, independent accommodation that allows them to live close enough to the proposed retirement community to make use of the facility’s amenities and have prepared meals without having to travel a great distance. Mothwa Haven is a registered old age home. Mothwa Haven houses 80 frail care and semifrail-care elderly people who require shortterm assistance, and therefore has strict rules such as no children (under the age of 12) are allowed and no flowers and plants are allowed in the rooms. Having the proposed intergenerational retirement community close to Mothwa Haven allows the opportunity to form a connection through outreach programmes that act as a communal meeting place for the families of the elderly who reside at Mothwa Haven.

FIGURE 3.8: My Grandfather and I at the Oncology Centre

3.3 ACCESS AND TRANSPORTATION:

The Moses Morudu bus stop (part of the A Re-Yeng bus line) is 450m down the road to the east on the corner of Fred Nicholson Street and Mansfield Road. The Moses Morudu bus stop is located on Mansfield Road, a main transport artery connecting the proposed Mayville site to the Pretoria CBD. There is an A Re-Yeng bus stop 170m down Fred Nicholson Street from the proposed site. By having the site near the A Re-Yeng bus line, the staff and occupants of the proposed retirement community have almost direct access to the public transport network in and around Pretoria CBD.

The proposed site is 250m away from the Tshwane City Bus Services’ Mayville bus line’s pickup point on Booysen Street. The Mayville bus line runs from Madiba Street and stops in 5th Avenue, Pretoria (see Figure 3.9). This connection to the Tshwane City Bus Services provides the staff and occupants with alternative public transportation routes into and around Pretoria CBD.

The site is connected to the specialists’ offices and Eugene Marais hospital through multiple footpaths. These footpaths are shaded with tree canopies, and the elderly could traverse around the surrounding blocks independently. A new entrance and pedestrian crossing will be proposed on the eastern side of the site to allow a direct access point to the specialists’ offices.

CHAPTER FOUR:

ADRESSING THE PROBLEM:

4.1 DELIMITATIONS

4.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.3 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

4.4 CAN DESIGN HELP OVERCOME LONELINESS?

4.1 DELIMITATIONS:

This proposed retirement community will focus only on the aged people who require semi and independent care facilities, as well as the public space required. This mini-dissertation will not cater for the aged people who require assistance with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease due to the facilities required to cater for the mentally disabled being too broad and specialised to research in the time frame assigned to the mini-dissertation. This proposed retirement community will not focus on frail care due to the site’s proximity to Eugene Marais Hospital and its connected specialists’ offices.

This mini-dissertation is theoretical and will only use secondary data gathered to understand a retirement community and the challenges associated with the elderly. There will be no interviews conducted for data collection. Where possible, the identity of people in photographs will be concealed to protect their privacy (unless they give permission).

The primary research paradigm used in this research will be constructivism. Constructivism is a philosophical paradigm that states that people create their own understanding of the subject by experiencing and then reflecting on those experiences. This statement means that the knowledge gained to complete this dissertation was by examining the existing retirement residential landscape of South Africa, investigating various design principles, and developing my interpretation of what the retirement residential landscape could be.

This study produced and documented plans, sections, elevations, physical models, and details to explore the value that age diversity could contribute to the retirement residential landscape of South Africa by implementing intergenerational spaces. I tend to operate more like a systematic designer with a small number of intuitive design approaches and using the modernist design principle of form follows function. My design process begins by looking at the main problem and the problem of the surrounding environment. I imagine how the two problems can be solved as one entity. I use checklists to ensure that the spaces meet the basic needs of the people using them. The function of the spaces is a priority in the design process.

When the architectural solutions basic requirements are met, I analyse the solutions intuitively to ensure that the spaces catxer to the human scale and experience without alienating the surrounding people and context.

4.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: 4.3 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY:

FIGURE 4.1: City Block. (Author, 2021).

04: ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM

FIGURE 4.2: Connection.

4.4 CAN DESIGN HELP OVERCOME LONELINES?:

While built spaces alone cannot solve the current mental health crisis experienced globally by the elderly population (and the rest of the world), I speculate that good design can aid and encourage social interaction and inclusivity. In an interview with Melissa Bachelor on her podcast, This is getting old, founder and CEO of Smart Living 360 Ryan Frederick (2020) says that a person’s living environment should be more than just a building. Frederick states that instead of creating uninspired living environments, designers should design living environments that make it easier to interact socially and meet new people, form connections, and hear engaging stories. Castenson (2018) gives an example that can address this statement: design improvements to building entrances and common areas. Instead of designing dark entryways and hallways, designers must refine these spaces to allow social connections to occur, facilitating social interaction between neighbours, friends, and families. This social interaction will lead to people creating connections that will improve their quality of life (Castenson, 2018).

Meaningful and fulfilling connections between people are one way to help combat the feeling of loneliness and social isolation. Simply forcing people into empty spaces will not ensure meaningful connections due to required social catalysts. Using social catalysts and a good architectural environment, designers help turn connections into meaningful relationships (Peavey, 2020).

Designers can help combat loneliness by creating architecture that entices natural human curiosity and helps various people find each other in different spaces at different times. This means that spaces must be created not to exclude people but rather to attract people to participate in social activities (Murray, 2015).

CHAPTER FIVE:

PROGRAMME AND ACCOMMODATIONS:

5.1 PROGRAMME

5.2 USER CLASSIFICATION

5.3 ACCOMMODATION