The Coronavirus Pandemic has disproportionately impacted many groups of people, amplified long standing inequalities around the world, and caused the acceptance of notions which have been fought so hard to resist. A specific impacted group have been the Elderly, who throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic, were asked to shield by staying within their homes, protecting their own health; it is now well known that old age is one of the highest risk factors associated with COVID-19. As a result, many of these individuals have been confined to solely one space, with only themselves for company, and susceptible to isolation. This problem became even more apparent within already isolated and ageing communities.
However, prior to the Pandemic, elderly people were (and still are) often subject to a variety of negative stigmas and attitudes, simply because of their age, with no consideration of their genuine dispositions. This Co-housing Community project aims to reject the negative stigmas elderly people are often associated with and instead develop a community which aims to fulfil all residents lives and encourage their differences. The Secret Garden designs against the unconscious bias’s people possess about the elderly and instead prioritises their experiences, allowing them to shape their own personal spatial environment. Through the application of theories, such as Clarence Perry’s ‘The Neighbourhood Unit’ theory and Monreno’s ‘The 15-minute city’ it was identified that a closely integrated social unit could be the solution to the research question:
As architects, how do we eradicate isolation felt by a group within society, who live in seclusion amongst a predetermined, isolated community?
Laura Jane Aspinall
Caitlin Boyd