Best Small Footprint Design Of 2024: Pace Center With Homelike Charm

Healthcare and social connections blend seamlessly in a new Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) location in Winchester, Virginia.

The organization behind the project, Blue Ridge, was inspired by the “community village” concept in its new concept, which is a PACE center that conjures a more homelike than clinical atmosphere.

The program resides within a compact footprint of 15,540 square feet, according to SueAnn Myers, executive director and project lead for Blue Ridge Independence at Home.

Prioritizing accessibility and ease of movement, the location features wide hallways, ramps and “thoughtfully placed” handrails. Recessed carpets reduce issues for visitors with wheelchairs and the building features a warm contemporary aesthetic that draws inspiration from the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains.

Blue Ridge Independence at Home’s PACE center design in a small package snagged it the top spot in the small footprint category of the 2024 Senior Housing News Architecture and Design Awards.

The concept

Planning for Blue Ridge Independence at Home kicked off in the fall of 2022. The project planning team included architectural firm Bergmeyer.

At the time, Blue Ridge’s board sought to extend the organization’s continuum of care for more people living in the surrounding area. The board landed on a PACE concept, wherein older adults visit the facility during the day and receive services such as medical attention, rehabilitation and social services before they go home in the afternoon.

Initially, the project planners set out to create a PACE center that blended both social and clinical services, with a focus on accessibility and comfort for participants.

The center also needed to be compliant for older adults living with dementia. In the design, that took the form of features like wood flooring that includes patterns and orientations meant to help residents find their way.

The planners also sought to make the community look and feel like a home and not a clinic. To achieve that goal, the planners built into the design features such as a gathering room, conversation nooks and a dining space.

“Every room, every part of the center and the clinic, was intentional,” Myers said. “The space could not look or appear like a nursing home.”

The building’s location posed multiple challenges in planning. The location, set inside a shopping complex, also included medical offices and a daycare. The PACE location also required workers to enlarge pipes on the property.

“We had to accept as an organization it’s going to take us a little longer to open the doors than we thought,” Myers said. “Overcoming it is just understanding that there are things out of your control, and those were out of our control.”

Planning for the building took the better part of six months and the project broke ground in April 2023.

The construction

The project planners tapped Silver Creek Construction and Principle Jim Anderson to handle the community’s construction, which was further made challenging by supply chain difficulties.

Among the chief culprits was the location’s HVAC system, which saw a delayed installation in part due to supply chain issues caused by the Covid pandemic. Each room had its own thermostat to allow for more adjustable control for those in the building, which elongated the construction process.

“We understood that the HVAC system here, although it supposedly had five to 10 more years on it, that it probably would not be adequate enough for us with the population that we’re serving,” Myers said. “So it was our choice to get a system that would more adequately serve our needs.”

The project team collaborated to overcome those challenges, but the work delayed the project beyond its initial timeline of 22 weeks.

Still, the project wrapped up as of New Year’s Eve in 2023.

The completion

Today, Blue Ridge Independence at Home stands as both a center for physical health as well as mental wellbeing.

The center has amenities such as a recreation and activity room, a library, a piano available for play and a media room. Myers said most residents take advantage of the social spaces to simply talk with one another.

“This is just perfect for the population we’re serving,” she said. “When people come here, it’s one of the big reasons that they look at it and say, ‘I would spend time here.’”

Senior Housing News Design Award Judges noted they enjoyed the project’s curb appeal and and community integration components. Judge John Cronin noted he “loves the use of Universal Design and promoting independence for residents,” and the project has “nice community integrations” with partnerships with local organizations.

Judge Wendi Stallings wrote the curb appeal is both modern and approachable and the project supports community and connection.

Blue Ridge seeks to expand its PACE program beyond its current 90-person capacity and serve 150 to 200 older adults in its center. So far, the participants that have been to the center have had positive feedback for the space, particularly in that it helps them have a space to be social and connect with others.

Looking ahead, Blue Ridge Hospice as an organization will use the lessons learned from this project to expand into other community care options, and as other organizations leave the medical center where Independence at Home is located, those options will be built out.

The post Best Small Footprint Design of 2024: PACE Center With Homelike Charm appeared first on Senior Housing News.