Skanshuset: health promotive intergenerational co-housing project

Abstract

Social isolation causes a lot of problems both for a person and society. This problem can affect everyone’s health. Seniors (+65 years old) and young adults between 18-30 years old who are mostly university students are suffering a lot from loneliness. That’s why taking extra attention on these two target groups become an issue to cope with. This master thesis aim is to design a health promotive co-housing project for both university students and seniors. According to this the health promotion become the main focus of study and design strategy. Research for design is the chosen method for this study which has firstly led to studying pieces of literature. Secondly, investigating architectural elements that can encourage interaction between users in different existing projects. Thirdly interviewing seniors, student and staff to hear more about their needs and thoughts by living and working in a cohousing project and finally using a survey to complete and form the program for the proposal idea. In intergenerational co-housing projects, common spaces are very important as a health promotive environment because all the interactions and activities happen there. Common spaces start from the most private to the most public spaces. The most private space is located in our apartment and the most public space is located outside of the building. It is considered that most of the times, an environment impacts more than one aspects of health. The result of this master thesis shows that architecture can improve health by creating spaces that people can take more control over factors that can improve their health and life quality. Furthermore, there is more responsibility on us as human to provide safe and manageable situation both for ourselves and others.