Metodologija množičnega prilagajanja tipskih enodružinskih hiš za sobivanje starih ljudi

An ageing population puts great pressure on existing residential infrastructure. It reveals the limited scope of suitable residential typologies and organisational models for older people, most of whom are increasingly active and independent members of modern society. Institutional accommodation in the form of homes for older people has proven to be less suitable and undesirable for the majority, except for the oldest and most vulnerable members of the demographic group, as it relocates them away from their familiar home environment, often making them passive and detached as a result. Major related problems include the absence of alternative and personalised residential typologies, the inaccessibility of rental apartments, attachment to one’s owned real estate and the burden of maintaining it, economic weakness, and loneliness. There is a desire to develop community-based forms of “ageing-in-place”, which is also endorsed by national documents and strategies. However, there are no concrete action plans or studies addressing locally appropriate ways of solving the housing issue of older people as relates to the culture, legislation, and organisational frameworks seen in Slovenia. Residential typologies and organisational models for older people in other consulted countries reveal a wider range of possibilities. To respond to the problem of oversized, poorly utilised single-family houses, in which most older people often live today, this thesis proposes a methodology for adapting such houses into small-scale cohousing groups for older people. This could help answer the problem of enabling ageing within the community, prevent older people from being uprooted from their familiar home environment, alleviate their loneliness, and at the same time take advantage of the existing building stock that needs revitalisation. To achieve these goals, this thesis proposes models of organisational solutions that would enable the realisation of cohousing groups within old single-family houses, as well as the development of a mass customisation design system to transform the architecture of the houses in question to fit their new program of cohousing for older people.