Work is part of life life, even as people age. While senior living communities are often thought of places people go to retire, many residents couldn’t or wouldn’t think of retiring. Any builder/operator who wants to attract residents needs to think about providing amenities for working seniors.

While fewer people are getting seriously ill with Covid, seniors are still concerned about their safety. These worries aren’t likely to go away soon, and many health care leaders predict that activities such as masking in various situations are here to stay. To attract residents today, tomorrow, and 10 years from now, senior living communities should prioritize safety in innovative ways.

Austin, Texas – Pi Architects is excited to announce the opening of Sooner Station, an innovative active adult community in Norman, Okla., with a focus on wellness, community, and collaboration. Through integrative design features that bring the indoors and outdoors together in stunning detail, Sooner Station has a 205,798-square-foot footprint with 101 independent living, 64 assisted living, and 24 memory care units.

Last year, I had the honor of moderating an online program on Post-Pandemic Trends for Senior Housing. Dean Maddalena, AIA, and Karla Jackson of Studio Six5 were the presenters; and they shared some valuable insights into what the world of senior housing might look like in 2022 and beyond as part of the AIA Design for Aging webinar series.

While inflation has hit the senior housing world, this doesn’t mean you can’t build or renovate a great community. You just need the right materials, the right team, and the ability to be flexible and innovative.

Green living is moving into senior living communities, and it’s bringing new residents and cost savings with it. From infrastructure innovations to practice changes, communities are embracing renewable energy and ways to reduce reliance on traditional fossil fuels and the costs that go with them.

Summer is here. Your residents will be spending more time outside, and prospects will be looking at what amenities they’ll enjoy when they move in. It’s not too late to make some changes and additions to create the most beautiful, lush, comfortable, and functional outdoor spaces for everyone.

Do you really know today’s seniors - who they are and what they want? Data from some recent Harris polls offer some insights on the over 65 population, and some of them are surprising.

A perfect storm is brewing. The senior living industry is in the midst of a revolution, and dining is a key part. The culinary program is at the heart of the hospitality experience for any community. First impressions matter, and this is one of the initial community elements prospective residents and their families want to see.

Clearly, technology in senior living has never been more important or innovative. From tech that enables residents to age in place safely to devices that let residents receive care, communicate with family and friends, and shop, work, and enjoy activities remotely, senior care tech is gaining momentum.

Pi sat down with Mike Girard, chief investment officer at Senior Living Residences, to discuss where the senior housing industry is heading. His insights paint a portrait of fast-paced change, unprecedented innovations, and seemingly limitless opportunities.

Lots of Senior Living Communities look good at a glance. But what does it take to have buildings and spaces that combine beauty, functionality, practicality, energy efficiency, safety, and other elements that attract and keep residents? And what amenities do we most want and appreciate?

We asked some of our Pi partners and friends to share their thoughts about what they’re looking forward to in 2022. Judging by their responses, it’s going to be an exciting year filled with many opportunities for positive change. Cutting edge innovations, partnerships and collaborations, plus much more.

Creating environments that enable staff to relax, take a break, enjoy some recreational activities, and have a workplace that feels home-like, senior living communities can attract and retain the best workers.

We at Pi have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. We’ve had the opportunity to work with some genuinely visionary individuals and organizations and contribute to the design of senior communities that will provide comfort, purpose, and quality of life for many, many Americans

Many organizations are so busy looking for ways to attract new staff that they’ve overlooked an important way to address staffing shortages – making the best, most efficient use of their current team.

When we design a senior living community, we are thinking about the people who will live there. We try to view the community through their eyes and include features and amenities they want and need. But this requires more than considering their chronological age. We have to think about their subjective age.

“Census and staffing go hand-in-hand in many ways,” said Jonathan Woodrow, Co-Founder and CEO of LivingPath, a Chicago-based company that helps people discover great senior living communities. Painting a picture of a career and work life that attracts and engages staff, in turn, can result in a portrait of a community where seniors want to live.

Thinking we know what others want or need may be well meaning; but it can lead to problems, for example, when you assume what makes your employees stay or leave. We went to an expert, Charles Turner, CEO of Kare, to find out what frontline workers in senior living and long-term care actually say and think about what makes them love – or hate – their job.

Imagining the future of senior living takes experience, knowledge, data and analytics, creativity, vision, and a bit of luck. It also takes input from people who are willing to think about their own future and what they would want senior living to look like for them.