Contemporary Care: Pattern Translations for an Intergenerational Exchange

Abstract

The success of intergenerational programm¬¬ing is often contingent upon a person or group to facilitate interaction among participants in an institutionalized setting; these places currently limit creative exuberance and promote surveillance as a vehicle for spatial organization. An architecture is assigned a pluralistic role that interrogates the value and scope of the human mediator, provokes activities between generations, and conversely recedes, allowing the inhabitants to act as agents in a space. Passive activities are omitted from an intergenerational program in favor of active experiences at both the formal and circumstantial level at multiple scales within the building. These activities are constructed or playful, and engage disparate generations inside and outside the facility to re-animate and de-institutionalize existing conditions. The design strategy breaks down preconceived stereotypes and establishes the architecture of intergenerational programming as a model for diversification and involvement through interaction and autonomy. The transitory nature of intergenerational programs is confronted with a formal partnership between a day care center for infants and toddlers, social adult day care, and a series of public pools.