Laura Schlifer and Daniel Carlson First Report
BABY BOOMERS: A NEW TAKE ON THE OLD
Over the course of the past year, our proposed competition has transformed in many unexpected and ways. Upon reading the question for the first time, we immediately identified several issues stemming from the aging Baby Boomers’ role in shifting the demographic profile of the United States. Our thought process turned to how our society views and cares for the elderly. We wanted to address the changing needs of the elderly population by changing our society’s perception of this age group. Initially, this led us to overreach the realities of a student competition, so instead we sought to take action from within our school to attempt to spur a change in the way our peers perceive the elderly.
In order to address the needs of the elderly within a physical environment, we examined the services offered to seniors. We looked at senior housing, a subject that we believe has been, and continues to be, researched and discussed extensively. Wanting to branch out into an even larger and age-diverse community, we saw the senior center as a model that has potential to address the new needs of aging Boomers.
The idea of the senior center in the United States is a product of the Older Americans Act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Since then, senior centers have been used to provide limited social services to the elderly population, encompassing social activities, free meals and minimal medical services. While this model has indeed served the current elderly population, it has also taken on a negative connotation in society at large. To adequately address this stigma, we hope our peers will creatively adapt the concept of a senior center to modern times and for the Boomer generations.
Our preliminary thoughts on the format of the competition were focused on the program of the senior center. We knew that the current system was not going to work for Boomers; they are a generation that will remain active well into retirement, refusing to let age change their lifestyles. To keep the senior center alive, services and programs must be adapted to a generation that tends to deny aging as a fact of life. As a whole, Baby Boomers will live longer lives than their parents, and will remain active well into retirement. How can re-programming the senior center meet these new needs? What do these changes mean for the community?
As a framework for rethinking the program of the senior center, we wanted to focus on a neighborhood in Minneapolis that has a strong presence of both young and old. This led us to choose Uptown as the “ideal” site for the proposed senior center. Soon, we questioned the limitations this would pose on the variety of entries. We wanted the students to be creative in their approach to designing the senior center of the future, so we considered leaving the site component completely open to individual interpretation. However, this approach seemed too open, and we believed students would spend too much time trying to find a site. In the end, we decided to let the students select a site(s) (mobile, rehab or new building) anywhere in the city, but quickly.
Implementing the competition became our next concern. What will the entries look like? What should they contain? Who will evaluate them, and what will the criteria be for judging? Early on, we focused on the concept of a booklet to communicate the proposals so the information could easily be disseminated to a larger community. As part of a studio course, taught by Professor Leslie Van Duzer, we began to coordinate and to discuss the ways this competition would be integrated into the curriculum. This led us to recognize the didactic value of using a booklet as a communicative tool for both the course and the competition.
We have played an instrumental role in the course curriculum because the competition and course are one and the same. We are currently working on a bibliography as a research tool the students can use to develop their projects. We are also in the process of planning field trips around the area as well as guest speakers to give students a more practical viewpoint of the subject.
Since all those entering the competition will be enrolled in a senior studio (approximately 15 students), we thought it might be most beneficial to integrate the judging process with the final review. To do this, we decided that all students would submit their materials electronically without giving a final presentation. The jurors would take a weekend to assess the booklets, judge them, and prepare a presentation and critique of each students’ work. During the day of the final review, jurors will be the ones giving the presentations. This method will challenge students to effectively and clearly present their ideas within the context of a booklet. The entries that best demonstrate clarity of presentation, programmatic innovation, and quality of design will be awarded with either first, second or third prize.
Inspiration
1. Gross, Jane. “Its Appeal Slipping, The Senior Center Steps Livelier.” The New York Times, March 25, 2008.
The café society in Chicago is an up-and-coming model for reinvigorating the outdated, underused senior centers of the 1960s and ‘70s. Mather Lifeways, a non-profit social agency based in Chicago, has seen success in creating a center that not only appeals to current seniors, but the aging Baby Boomer generation.
New York Time Article on Mather Lifeways.
2. Van Ryzin, Jean. “Tomorrow’s Senior Center: Dynamic, Accessible, and Perhaps not Even Called Senior.” NCOA.
This article discusses the issues current senior centers face in transitioning their services to accommodate the Boomer generation, including its name, program and accessibility. 244 senior center directors were polled about what needs to change for the incoming flux of Boomers.
Other relavent sources
NCOA-National Council On Aging
NISC- National Institute of Senior Centers (part of NCOA)
3. The Powerpoint presentation, from the New Models of Senior Centers Task Force, offers several examples of new models of senior centers all over the country. They break down the types of centers in to seven categories: community center, wellness center, lifelong learning/arts, continuum of care/transitions, the next chapter, entrepreneurial, and cafes. Each section discusses specific case studies and models of successful centers and why they are successful.
Some examples
Avenidas - Based in California. Instead of using the word “senior,” this group promotes services for “older adults,” offering diverse activities, a volunteer corps and transportation services.
Senior Arts - a theater arts senior center and dinner theater based in Nashville, Tennessee. Artists and audiences are of all ages, but gets its name from the art and acting classes and programs they offer to seniors, who may not otherwise get the opportunity anywhere else.
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