Everything Elderly - senior apartments and architecture/design

Posted on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 : 9:37 p.m.

Everything Elderly - senior apartments and architecture/design

By Alan Caldwell

Patrice LaGrand from Carpenter Place

Tracy LaFever Byrd from Carpenter Place

Everything Elderly is a weekly 30-minute radio show, sponsored by Senior Helpers. The program is all about seniors - it’s informative entertainment. The shows airs on 1290 AM WLBY, every Saturday morning at 8:30. Earlier today we had the pleasure of talking about senior apartment living at Carpenter Place and design for seniors with Rizzolo Brown and Novak / Architects.

We first spoke with Tracy LaFever Byrd and Patrice LaGrand from Carpenter Place.

Tracy and Patrice are both Resident Service Coordinators at Carpenter Place, which features affordable housing for seniors.

Tracy focuses on community outreach. She has been at Carpenter Place for 11 years, and has a real passion for affordable, sustainable senior housing.

Patrice spends time on in-home visits, assessing the needs of each resident, looking for any maintenance issues, and just checking in.

In a senior apartment, residents feel a sense of independence -- they aren’t living with their grown children.

The residents are part of a great community, they have the support of their neighbors.

The Community Garden and Coffee Club are two activities that seem like a lot of fun!

Tracy and Patrice coordinate presentations for their residents, and “they aren’t all doom and gloom, growing older is much more than your ailments!”.

Carpenter Place currently has a wait list for openings. The local Housing Bureau for Seniors is an excellent resource for those looking for local housing information, as well as the website sitemaker.umich.edu/seniorhelp.

To contact Carpenter Place, or Tracy or Patrice, please call 734-973-8377. You may learn more at the website carpenterplaceapts.com. To listen to the 13-minute discussion, please click on this audio file Everything Elderly 0612 Carpenter Place.mp3.

We spoke next with Connie Rizzolo Brown and Celeste Allen Novak, from Rizzolo Brown and Novak / Architects.

Celeste Allen Novak from Rizzolo Brown and Novak Architects

Connie Rizzolo Brown

Photos by Sheila Doeden

Connie and Celeste’s firm specializes in a few areas, one being senior housing.

“Design Means Listening” is a major focus for the practice. They are intensely interested in good design - listening to people -- how people want to live and use their space, and how people perceive their space.

They recently placed in a competition for their work on a senior high-rise, creating a “vertical garden.”

Achieving good design is about all your senses, it’s about the way you reach for things, and about moving within your space.

Connie and Celeste focus on sustainability - having a home that minimizes energy use and creating a home that works for your whole life.

A client may not need an addition, maybe it’s a “subtraction” - better organize, and make better use of the available space.

Connie had one specific suggestion - microwaves should be placed so when you pull out a hot dish you can simply slide the dish on to the counter (not putting your microwave above the stove!).

Celeste talked about their initial visit to a home and how “houses speak to architects,” that everything should be considered -- the view, the neighbors, the noise, what happens in the house, and around the house.

To get in touch with Connie and Celeste at Rizzolo Brown and Novak / Architects, please call 734-222-6205, and you can visit their website rbnarchitects.com. To listen to the full 13-minute talk click on this file Everything Elderly 0612 Rizzolo Brown & Novak Architects.mp3.

Alan Caldwell is the owner of Senior Helpers, providing in-home care services, primarily for the elderly. He can be contacted at acaldwell@seniorhelpers.com, or at 734-927-3111.