A Study on the Types of Living Spaces in Elderly Welfare Facilities in Japan

Korea’s aging rate is currently 20.3%, and it has already entered a super-aged society in December 2024. However, there are areas where more functional differentiation is needed for the welfare facilities for the elderly. As such, the provision of adequate medical services and excessive services are not properly implemented, insurance premiums are charged and the finances of long-term care insurance and medical insurance for the elderly are being strengthened. Ultimately, it will be possible to reduce the burden of medical expenses for the elderly and improve the quality of services. Currently, the types of elderly care facilities are not diverse, so the elderly are unable to choose the appropriate facilities, have mild disabilities, and are forced to live with the elderly with severe diseases, and the symptoms often change suddenly to severe symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide data that can be helpful in the design of elderly care facilities in Korea by considering the architectural characteristics of various elderly care facilities in Japan. In this study, we examine the differences between Japan’s elderly care facilities by type and examine their architectural characteristics. Through this study, the following facts were found. The elderly facilities in Japan started as poor relief facilities and were differentiated into elderly-only facilities used only by the elderly, and the composition of spaces centered on multi-person rooms that somewhat lack privacy has developed into semi-private rooms, and single-person rooms have now developed into general facilities. In the case of multi-person rooms, problems such as privacy problems and decreased autonomy have occurred due to the lack of personal privacy space of residents. Accordingly, recently, a unit-care model has been introduced that enables communal living and social exchange while ensuring individual independence. The average total floor area of facilities per person in the surveyed facilities was about 47.0㎡, which was twice as wide as the domestic permit standard, and the average floor area of the private rooms was 15.5㎡. Through this study, it can be seen that the facility composition of many elderly care facilities currently has relatively diverse spaces to practically practice the principles of human respect, home protection-oriented, and professional protection development, which are the planning ideologies of welfare facilities for the elderly, and in particular, the installation of rest and exchange spaces is secured in various ways regardless of large and small facilities.