'Reborn as a "Senior-Friendly" Design, the "Dangerous and Uncomfortable" Community Center'

Seoul City Develops 'Universal Design Model' Focused on Elderly Lifestyle

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is developing a safe senior center design model that ensures no inconvenience for elderly people entering and using the facilities, and plans to compile it into a guidebook to spread it throughout the city.

Seoul recently applied ‘Universal Design’ for the elderly at the 'Hwamoek Senior Center' in Jeonnong 1-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, improving it into a safe and convenient 'Life Resting Place' that can be used regardless of decreased muscle strength, cognitive ability, or disabilities, the city announced on the 7th.

The senior center installed safety handrails on stairs, ramps, and restrooms, painted them in highly visible colors, and placed a chair integrated with a handrail at the entrance to prevent falls that often occur when changing shoes. Additionally, in the multipurpose living space for rest, refreshments, and leisure activities, both standing furniture and floor seating areas were installed so users can conveniently choose how to use the space.

The city recently selected urgent improvement targets among public buildings and public spaces frequently used by diverse citizens through a district competition, and is promoting a project to apply and spread universal design based on diagnosis and analysis by a citizen experience group. Hwamoek Senior Center, which used to be frequented by about 30 seniors around 80 years old daily, had limited space and complicated circulation paths, making it suitable only for simple activities like eating or resting rather than enjoying leisure.

Accordingly, a citizen experience group composed of about 10 elderly people directly diagnosed Hwamoek Senior Center and applied universal design based on the identified improvements, behavioral observations, surveys, and interviews, and developed a 'Senior Center Universal Design Guidebook' to enable application to other facilities.

According to the guidebook, the approach area to the senior center should have a canopy with lighting to prevent slipperiness even on rainy days, and apply highly visible warning signs and safety handrails made of non-cold materials. In particular, to improve behaviors such as sitting down on the floor or supporting oneself on small door handles due to difficulty balancing when changing shoes at the entrance, a bench integrated with handrails for comfortable sitting and a shoe rack that allows bending without stooping while standing should be installed.

The living room space should install both sofas and floor seating areas so that elderly people do not lie on the floor due to lack of resting places, and safety storage cabinets with anti-finger-trap and sliding door mechanisms should be provided to store items safely and easily without hindering activities.

The kitchen space should be arranged to allow multiple elderly people to prepare and cook meals simultaneously, and restrooms should be equipped with customized safety handrails on doors, toilets, and sinks so that users can use them independently without assistance.

The city plans to use this guidebook as a guideline for renovation, repair, new construction, and expansion of senior centers and elderly welfare centers in 25 autonomous districts, and in cooperation with SH Seoul Housing Corporation, to apply it in the design of senior centers in newly built public housing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.