Morgan Heald | Activate the Alley

ACTIVATE THE ALLEY

Senior Living Within the South Dunn Street Neighborhood A Master of Architecture Thesis by Morgan Heald

Abstract

Due to medical and caretaking needs, many seniors face displacement from their homes and a sense of isolation from their community. An increasing percentage of senior citizens are choosing at-home assistance instead of nursing home relocation. For these seniors to continue living in their own homes, accessible design retrofits are often necessary. These retrofits adapt homes to meet the specific needs of the residents aging in place. Despite the comfort of living in their own homes, the decision to age in place can still result in seniors becoming isolated from their community through issues of independence and mobility.

This thesis uses the existing neighborhood of Dunn Street in Bloomington, Indiana to implement a community of senior dwelling units along the alleyway.

The partial dependence of each senior dwelling unit on an existing single-family home integrates seniors into the neighborhood by increasing density and resulting in a dynamic of multiple generations on the same site. The alleyway with which these senior dwelling units align frames a linear, shared space to foster a network of activity among the senior residents as well as serving as the neighborhood’s access to residential parking, trash removal, and pedestrian uses. The offerings of a college town to be a walkable community with a range of cultural experiences and the opportunity for sociability matches the same needs for seniors. This proposal takes an otherwise isolated senior citizen and creates a hybrid of independence within a multigenerational, interactive community in an existing neighborhood.

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

BLOOMINGTON MAP

SITE MAP DIAGRAM

A college town’s community network of amenities that serve the interests of university students will also serve the overlapping interests of seniors. Theater, art, live music, and outdoor activities are abundant in Bloomington. The offerings of a college town to be a walkable community with a range of cultural experiences and the opportunity for sociability matches the same needs for seniors. An existing alley system notated in red sits on either side of the South Dunn Street neighborhood development of single family homes.

SITE CONTEXT

The features of the existing neighborhood of Dunn Street include bungalow style houses with detached garages at the back of their properties. The access to these detached garages is connected through an alleyway system that is utilized by slow-moving vehicles including residents parking in the garages, as well as trash pick-up trucks, pedestrians, and bikers.

The placement of these existing detached garages on the lot properties are reminiscent of accessory dwelling units that are

SOUTH DUNN STREET ALLEY built at the back of properties for a variety of uses. These uses include an office, studio, gym, lounge, and storage. Another use for accessory dwelling units, also known as mother-in-law units or granny flats, are to house aging parents in a partially independent space from their own home.

INITIAL SKETCH

The thesis concept is implementing a community of senior dwelling units along the alleyway of a single family home neighborhood. These units allow for a hybrid of independence for seniors to have adjacent support from the lot property’s main house as well as the freedom of their own space and a community of their peers along the alleyway. The existing detached garages that line the alleyway provide residential parking for the residents of the single family houses within the South Dunn Street neighborhood. Through creating these spaces for elderly in the neighborhood, seniors can be integrated into the existing community with the cultural and social experiences it provides.

PHYSICAL DIAGRAM The alleyway aligned with these accessory dwelling units also offers the opportunity to foster a new, community network among the senior residents. This alleyway space can become a space of activity for gathering and sharing within the residents of the dwelling units as well as the residents of the main houses to create a multigenerational, interactive community.

INDIVIDUAL UNIT

The proposed unit design offers a separately accessed space that can be used as a single car garage or as a space for activities such as an office, studio, workshop, game room, or gathering space that could be utilized by the neighborhood.

Dividing the garage space from the dwelling unit is an exterior path that creates access between the alleyway and the lot property’s backyard. The living space accessed from this path offers a parlor style semi-public access for guests while the rest of the dwelling unit includes a bathroom, bed, closet, and kitchen that overlooks the exterior bar seating in the alleyway.

ALLEY DIAGRAM

As shown in the alley diagram, the units sit at the back of each property lot to line the alleyway. The face of the units aligning the alleyway will include benched seating, vertical garden planters, chess tables, as well as linear bar seating outside kitchen windows. The backyards of each lot offer opportunities for interaction between the residents of the main house and the dwelling units. The green lots without a dwelling unit represent shared community space and the opportunities for interaction between all residents of the dwelling units and the main property house.

The alleyway of which these senior dwelling units align frames a linear, shared space to foster a network of activity among the senior residents as well as serving as the neighborhood’s access to residential parking, trash removal, and pedestrian uses. The ribbon drive style of road allows vehicles to pass through while doubling as two directional walking paths. Aside from the previously discussed individual unit plan, the other style of dwelling unit floor plan offers a bit larger square footage for a one bedroom option and larger living/kitchen space without the semi-public living space. Another option shown in plan

FLOOR PLAN is withgoing the garage/studio space and parking behind the unit under a carport. This further opens up the backyard to the alleyway and encourages shared use of space between the residents. Each lots’ exterior path leads from the alleyway to access the backyard activities including tables and benching for seating, raised garden beds, ping pong tables, swimming pools, and badminton courts. Community shared spaces also include shuffleboard, bocce ball, chess tables, park space, and a tennis court.

The partial dependence of each senior dwelling unit on an existing single-family home integrates seniors into the neighborhood by increasing density and resulting in a dynamic of multiple generations on the same site whether that be family members or a senior renting the unit from the family living in the single family house on the property. Another situation could include the senior living in the main house with their family member living in the alley dwelling unit for adjacent support.

This situation would further push the connection of the residents of the main house to the alleyway community and invite

ROOF PLAN PERSPECTIVE alleyway residents to gather and interact in each others’ backyard spaces as well as the shared spaces along the alley. The pitched alley awnings profiles are inspired by the gabled roof pitches on the existing bungalow style houses within the South Dunn Street Neighborhood. The individual dwelling units shed style roofs mirrored across the alleyway also contribute to the pitched alley profile. These profiles are repeated in a variety of ways across the backyards to create portico gathering spaces underneath these awnings for all residents to utilize.

ALLEY SECTION PERSPECTIVE With these alley units implemented throughout the entire alley system in the South Dunn Street Neighborhood, there is the opportunity for community interaction and gathering between neighbors. Seniors that become isolated in their own homes can benefit from nearby access to daily necessities including the restaurant cafe, pharmacy, grocery, and post office as well as active or social spaces including the park, gym, and spaces for music or art. The needs of seniors in a community space can include being located close enough to these daily use spaces to be accessible to someone who no longer drives a vehicle or has low mobility to travel large distances on foot. The single car garages and block parking lots bring transportation options for the neighborhood, and the nearby commercial and park space are adjacent to the site. The activated alleyway brings the community closer to the individual’s residence.

SITE SECTION PERSPECTIVE This proposal aims to integrate seniors into the communal neighborhood for an intergenerational social space instead of the disjointedness between generations that is commonly created with institutionalized senior care centers. The seniors that live in these dwelling units experience the support of their family in the nearby main home on the property and the commodities of an existing neighborhood while also activating this alleyway as a new community space. This proposal takes an otherwise isolated senior citizen and creates a hybrid of independence by activating the alley into a multigenerational, interactive community in the existing South Dunn Street neighborhood.

PERSPECTIVE