Assessing the Design Preferences of Ageing Residents in Malaysian Elderly Care Homes

Abstract

Many of the existing elderly care homes in Malaysia are lacking in terms of design
consideration to fulfil the requirements of seniors as they age further. Past literature on
elderly care homes nevertheless, only much focuses on the aspect of management and
services, social health care program and facilities as well as living arrangements
suitability for the elderly residing in the elderly care homes. None, however, attempts on
discussing and determining the best practice guidance in terms of design preferences to
fulfill ageing resident’s needs. This paper discusses on the design issues and challenges in
current elderly care homes followed by examination through the appearance and
configuration of both the exterior and interior of the existing home care. This is vital to
establish appropriate design strategies in terms of architectural design layout involving
the quality of home environment in terms of living, emotional and facilities comfort
whereas maintaining the existing cultural values. This study adopts mixed methodology
strategy framed by the interpretivism paradigm approach in which all qualitative data
were analyzed using hermeneutics and coding whilst the quantitative data were examined
using SPSS technique. Findings indicate that ageing residents much prefer home design
with proper contextual responsiveness, appropriate building envelope, suitable site
planning with comfortable unit dwellings space as well as suitable form making qualities.
This paper is of benefit for future designers, builders, developers and related authorities
to improve the design quality of elderly housing in Malaysia in the aspect of physical
planning guidelines.