Rethinking office space as a place to age; converting an office building into an assisted living facility for people with dementia using a case based approach
Publicerad
Författare
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
With rising numbers of people with dementia and
increasing office vacancies, this thesis explores how
existing office buildings can be repurposed to meet
the needs of Assisted living facilities for people with
dementia. The study addresses environmental and
social aspects through the example of Högsbo, an
area dominated by offices and warehouse buildings,
currently planned for transformation into a mixed-use
residential district.
The aim was to identify strategies for converting office
spaces into high-quality living environments for people
with dementia. Special attention was given to the
specific needs of residents, such as orientation and
comfort, while considering the building stock. These
included adapting the building stock and extensions
to enhance the building performance and user wellbeing.
Guided by the research question “Is it possible to
transform office buildings into high-quality living
environments for people with dementia?”, the thesis
applied an evidence-based design approach. Analysis
of reference projects and literature provided the
foundation for design strategies, further refined by the
Human-centered-design theory.
The results demonstrate the ecological and social
potential of adaptive reuse while highlighting key
challenges inherent in office typologies, such as narrow
floorplans and variation in floor heights. To address
these, spatial and structural strategies are proposed,
ensuring both functional and atmospheric qualities to
meet the demands of the residents with dementia.
By combining architectural adaptation with the
specific need of the target group, this work contributes
transferable insights for the ecological, economic,
and social sustainability of future office-to-housing
conversions.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Assisted Living Facilities for people with dementia, office building, wayfinding, conversion