Snehalayam : Intergenerational Community Hub _Lakshmi Sunilkumar

SNEHALAYAM: INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY HUB A Socially Responsible Community Enhancement Programme for Elderly and Children

Lakshmi Sunilkumar1 and Ar. Reshmi Das2 1 2

Student, B. Arch, SCMS School of Architecture, Ernakulam, Kerala, India Assoc.Professor, SCMS School of Architecture, Ernakulam, Kerala, India

E-mail: 1lakshmipadayath@gmail.com, 2resmidas@scmsgroup.org Abstract. This thesis is a deliberate attempt of blending to create an environment which provides significant and holistic approach for two extreme age groups of society – Elderly and Children. Also exploring how architecture can facilitate an inter-generational relationship between both the age groups. The aim is to create a mutual connection – symbiotic relationship between elderly and orphans. A place for life, play and work – a serene yet busy environment.

The aim of this project is to establish a unique and symbiotic community, fostering a deep and meaningful connection between elderly individuals and orphans. The objective was to provide a holistic environment that offers a balance between serenity and activity. It envisions a place where life unfolds organically, residents engage in playful activities, and meaningful work contributes to the vitality of the community. Central to this vision is the creation of a selfsufficient community where shared responsibilities and collaborative initiatives ensure the wellbeing and fulfilment of all residents. This project is an initiative to fill the generation gap and to tightly hold on our traditions. It is a process which cannot be achieved at instant but the first step towards it is important for a better future and it can be achieved through designing such spaces for support and interaction.

Keywords. Symbiotic Relationship, Self Sufficient Environment, Inclusive Community 1. Introduction Old Aged People - ‘The Forgotten Ones': In India, we are surrounded by elderly people, and 80% of them are suffering in misery from being separated from their loved ones. They raise their children with all the love, tenderness, and suffering imaginable. All of the children have grown up and are no longer dependent on their frail, aged, and demanding parents for support. When elderly people reach the point when they are living a second childhood, they are left to fend for themselves, even though they desperately need more care, extra love, and extra strength to live out their last years quietly.

Orphans - A Desolate Soul: These kids have no place to go, they open up their eyes to a world where there is no support or love for them present anywhere. They feel so deprived of everything that the best thing appealing to them is death and that all the problems will go away with it. No one in this society accepts them. And due to which they get into some wrong practices to create their own identity and make a space for themselves in this world just because they are not under the guidance of any elderly.

To create a space where the elderly and orphans can live together, where one group can provide the other with what they lack. Old people can deliver their knowledge and experience to the younger ones in a more appropriate manner than parents, as the nurturing is quite a time consuming and requires more patience, which nowadays parents lack because they are stuck in their own responsibilities and workload. On the other hand, the young ones keep the environment more lively, vibrant and playful which makes the elders feel that they are back into their childhood once again with these kids.

2. Statistics India has the second largest population in the world, with 1.35 billion people. About 158.8 million of the populations are children below the age of 6. Of these children, 30 million are orphans which make up a significant portion of the youth population. Among the 30 million children, only 370,000 of them are in childcare institutions.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) conducted one study in 2016-17 and found that there are 9,589 orphanages (CCI).

Figure 1: Demographic Profile of Aged in Kerala

Table 1: Demographic Profile of Aged in Kerala

India has the second largest population in the world, with 1.35 billion people. About 158.8 million of the populations are children below the age of 6. Of these children, 30 million are orphans which make up a significant portion of the youth population. Among the 30 million children, only 370,000 of them are in childcare institutions.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) conducted one study in 2016-17 and found that there are 9,589 orphanages (CCI).

Table 2: District wise no: of orphanages and orphans in Kerala

Kerala, as per 2021 data, has the maximum proportion (16.5%) of elderly population and the projections for 2031 show that Kerala will have the maximum proportion (20.9%) of elderly people in its population. According to the statistic, every fifth individual is expected to be a senior citizen, 60 years of age and above, by the year 2031.Kerala is also a home for around 40,000 orphans as registered under Social Justice Department under Government of Kerala.

3. Objective • The goal is to establish a mutual relationship - an interactive platform for elderly and children. The elderly will act as a parent figure in orphan’s life, and children would act as young companions to the elderly.

• Creating a playful space to encourage both young and old to benefit from one another. Facilities such as homework assistance, teaching, day care and storytelling will integrate the elderly with children.

4. Scope of the proposal Creating village-like environment to ensure a perfect bridge between the past and the present and including natural essence of all the elements of the village would give a positive impact on to an elderly’s as well as children’s life.

Thus, design program would aim to inculcate various activities which help to increase their strength, physically as well as mentally.

5. Feasibility In Kerala's context the number of orphanages and old age homes are increasing every year. The project will thus focus on elderly people - whose children either migrate abroad and is not taken of, and abandoned people; Children - who have lost either or both of their parents or abandoned by family and relatives. Both groups need extra care owing to their vulnerability. Only if they both are made interdependent, they may serve each other’s purpose.

Considering both groups, we could infer that they both lack mutual feeling and that is deep affection, warmth, attachment and love. Orphans always deficient of parental or elderly love and abandoned parents always deficient of the love obtained from children. Also providing a common facility for both elderly and children will reduce the need to form more and more orphanages and old age every year to home this homeless and hopeless community.

Also, this project is approached such that a community can be developed catering needs and fulfilling the requirements of both groups giving them better life and happiness.

6. Challenges Since the programs involves combining two vulnerable generations having weak immunity to social and health problems proper well-defined research is required. The residential facilities of both groups might be different however large interactive common spaces has to designed such that both groups could easily associate with each other.

7. Design for Elderly Ageing happens to everyone, and as we get older, we experience a wide array of physical, psychological, and socio-economic changes that can be a challenge for some to adapt to. One experiences physical challenges related to mobility, strength, vision and hearing loss, and tactile and thermal sensitivity as we age.

7.1 Understanding Problems faced by Elderly Visual Problems: Changes in perception, cognition, and expression, especially when the intellect is intact, can have a depressing and debilitating psychological effect in old age.

Cognitive Mapping Difficulties: Older people have an increased difficulty in creating new mental imagesknown as “cognitive maps” - of unfamiliar settings. Their ability to comprehend complex but familiar situations may be superior to that of less complex but new environments.

Psychological Problem: With ageing comes several of these physical issues that might limit one's ability to do things. Most senior citizens want to engage in a wide array of physical activities, but when their bodies refuse to cooperate, it can lead to withdrawal, resentment, and even depression.

7.2 Design Elements Spatial Organisation: It is important that spaces are organized from public to private, which is similar to a home.

Through the organization and separation of spaces, the built environment can acknowledge individual needs for both communal and private spaces. The necessities for spatial arrangement differ depending on the type of users and their particular requirements. For instance, if a senior citizen needs to continue physical exercise to stay healthy, a facility designer can encourage more walking by increasing the distances between different parts of the facility. Also they have a harder time remembering things, so it is ideal to keep circulation between spaces simple.

A few ways of doing this is limiting entrances/exits and keeping pathways simple with minimal choices of which direction one can turn. Having multiple options on along a path can create frustration due to not knowing or remembering which way one needs to go.

Sense of Place: Sense of place is defined as “place-specific values and personal bonds that individuals form with their surroundings, including the biophysical, socio-cultural, psychological, and political-economic aspects of one’s environment.”

4 MAJOR CRITERIAS 1) Socio-cultural 2) psychological-emotional 3) political - economical 4) biophilic.

Sensory Experience: Sensory stimulation encompasses many elements including light, color, sound, and materials. Lighting, materials, and color also contribute to the feeling of the facility.

1. Light: As much natural light as possible should be used in all areas because most seniors receive far too little sunlight, which is bad for their health. The nervous system, one's mental state, and one's hunger are all impacted by sunlight. As we age, changes in our vision lead to a deterioration in our vision, artificial light is also a crucial component in a senior care facility. Lighting should be created to be more indirect and ambient. Both residents and workers will feel safer and more at ease as a result.

2.

Color: With age, one's vision deteriorate. As a result, bigger fonts, greater contrast colours, and stronger lighting levels will need to be addressed in the design. Signs should be placed at wheelchair eye level (48 to 52 inches from the ground) so that they may be seen easily from both a standing and sitting posture.The greatest strategy to help seniors adjust to their visual loss is to create significant contrast between various color aspects in design. The marks on the edges of staircases and curbs, as well as those on signs that provide safety warnings, are examples of safety-related features to which this color selection theory also applies.

3.

Sound: Because loud ambient sound stresses many elderly, especially those who have dementia, it is advantageous to reduce it. Hearing problems might also worsen in noisy environments.

4.

Material: Matte leveled anti-slipping flooring wide enough for a wheelchair. Flooring design would help the elderly in the recognition of orientation and perception of space, but should be carefully designed to avoid adverse effect.Floors, skirting boards and walls should have contrasting colors. This would help the elderly to distinguish the wall and floor junction to enhance perception of space.

8. Design for Children An orphan is a child who has lost his mother, father or both parents to any cause. The death of parents to the child is an upsetting event. A child requires parental love, care, and protection in the early stages of development because it is in this environment of the child when it is critical in determining how that child develops. Orphans need living environments that make them secured and promote their psychological well-being.

8.1 Understanding Problems faced by Children Sadness: These problems are caused due to failure to deal with their sense of loss. Children might routinely suffer from violence, abuse and neglect.

Depression: Depression is a disorder that is defined by certain emotional, behavioral, and thought patterns.

Results in experiencing anxiety with other symptoms such as feeling sad, lonely, unloved, and worthless.

Fear: Causes high negative emotions, poor self-image, low confidence, increased level of daily stress, poor management of internal and external stressors, psychosocial troubles and issues, and deficits in creative activities and cognitive motivation.

Social isolation: The sense of impermanency and shortage of resources make it hard for orphans to trust people.

Despite being surrounded by people all the time, they feel lonely and disconnected. They learn they can only count on themselves.

8.2 Design Interventions

Table 3: Design interventions for Children

8.3 Design Elements Scale: Children are small and their smallness can make them vulnerable and insecure. That is the reason they are naturally drawn to small cubbies and small-scale areas where they can feel content, competent to cope with new challenges. Providing small spaces within the whole give children: Sense of safety, Sense of control, Sense of belonging.

The sense of scale can be incorporated in the following ways: • Provision of small-scale furniture and equipment.

• Low level small windows that only child can use.

• Breaking up a larger volume into smaller components.

Space And Form: There is a direct co-relation between the stress levels of children and the amount of space available to them. Spaces that are too large can lead to noise and confusion. Spaces that are too small can create heightened level of stress and anxiety.The journey from one space to another remains vital to child wellbeing. The child care home must have no endless corridors and gateways where the child can be lost. The journey must allow children to travel from one space to another with ease and no hesitation, as it can influence curiosity and the decision to take the next step in the journey.

Sensory Experiences 1. Color: Concern about the environment’s color design contributes to the relationship between children’s cognitive, emotional, social development, and various settings. Color lets children garner a vibrant sensory experience.Rooms with more light are more fascinating than those with less. Warm colors like red, orange, and yellow are associated with stimulation and excitement, but hues at the other end of the spectrum like dark, deep red are more thrilling than softer, less saturated colors.

2. Lighting: A natural light setting where children, especially those in kindergarten and those who are new to schooling, feel safe and comfortable can be created with the help of the correct lighting, which includes indirect illumination, the use of daylight, and friendly, warm white light colors.

3. Motion: Moving things remain unpredictable, making them more exciting than static objects. Many ways exist to integrate animation into interior design, including projecting images, moving, kinetic sculptures, fountains.Incorporating living things like fish, birds, cats, and other animals into child care facilities could keep the kids occupied, interested, and consistently entertained.

4. Hearing/Sounds: Involving the group with music illustrates another way of providing a pleasant sound atmosphere for orphaned children, as the musical atmosphere also gives them an opportunity, helping them forget their daily problems and sorrows.

5. Odour/Smell: Designers skillfully develop a unique visual environment.Perhaps because of the focus on vision, the other senses can be used successfully to enact unforgettable experiences and positive placeattachment. It is also suggested that perception of places associated with specific smells is much stronger than those identified with sights or sounds.

9. Conceptual Design Approach An interactive platform for elderly and orphans: Even if we combine an old age home with an orphanage, we need to have a planned space or platform where they both can interact. We can’t always put both the generations together as they have different priorities.

Site amidst nature: Site chosen, have dense vegetation and a beautiful lake, away from the chaos of the city, surely provides a platform, to create organic and calming spaces, instead of making concrete blocks. Nature provides a feeling of calmness and release stress which are necessary for both the generations to provide them with a common background to develop their personalities and channel their energy where required.

Universal design and barrier-free architecture: It may happen that some of the elder people are differently abled and hence need to be catered. And not just elder people also children could be differently abled. Also design for both groups can be different. So the building should be responsive to such kind of people.

Careful planning of spaces: It might happen that some of the elder people may have some contagious diseases.

Therefore, careful planning is required so that spaces are segregated but are not isolated.

10. Conclusion The aim of the thesis was to create a vibrant community for blending two generations i.e., elderly and children for social living activities to enhance understanding for one another and to share knowledge, experience and compassion. This was established by Creating a mutual connection – symbiotic relationship between elderly and orphans. The design focuses more about the user experience and less about the form. A simple yet human centric design was the main aim. Major designing part contains common spaces for both groups and interaction spaces

that serves the whole purpose of this community. Other designing part includes various typologies of residential facilities based on their requirement.

‘SNEHALAYAM’ – this project is an initiative to fill the generation gap and to tightly hold on our traditions. It is a process which cannot be achieved at instant but the first step towards it is important for a better future and it can be achieved through designing such spaces for support and interaction.

11. References [1] United Nations(2015), World Population Prospects,Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Pg 04 [2] Social justice department(2019), Government of Kerala board of control for Orphanages and other Charitable homes, Pg 05 [3] Adithi Moogoor, (2015), lee li ming programme in ageing urbanism.

[4] Ar. Pradnya Sajan Hankare, Dr. Parag Govardhan Narkhede(2022), Designing interactive spaces for orphanage combined with elders’ home, Pg 03 [5] Ryan Caldeira (2022), URBAN AGEING the social inclusion of senior citizens, Pg 09 [6] Barbara Brink - (1997), Guidelines for the street children, Architecture for education UNESCO. [7] S. Irudaya Rajan, Aneeta Shajan, S. Sunitha (2020), Ageing and Elderly Care in Kerala [8] Binu, T., & Karthikeyan, S. (2022). Ageing care: Challenges of residential care of the aged. International Journal of Health Sciences [9] Mithasha Mistrey (2011). Architectural psychology and its impact on child development: a proposed educational facility for physically disabled children [10] Saif M. Obeidat,(2015) designing for elderly; comfort, health and well-being.

[11]Elderly-friendly Design Guidelines,(2015), Archiectectural Services Department