Challenging in the face of many losses and negative biases is our last phase of life, the late life. We end up in nursing homes out of sight from our communities, we are viewed as valueless and stripped away from our own desires and standards. During a stay in a care home these observations led to the confronting conclusion that almost all old people in the care home felt like they had no sense of purpose in life. This is critical as sensing a purpose in life is essential for human flourishing, psychological functioning and our mental well-being.
This project responds to people in late life who have lost their reason to wake up everyday and who have lost their spark as they feel like they have no purpose in life. The project stimulates people in their last phase of life to hold on to their sense of purpose in life by guiding several gradients derived via literature studies, interviews, case studies and an analysis of the site of design. The gradients essential in maintaining a sense of purpose in late life are the community gradient (from private to collective to public), the home and nature gradient (from indoors to outdoors), and the village and forest gradient (from village to forest). The main reason preventing older people from transitioning themselves between these several places, and thus from doing meaningful things, is the lack of the feelings of trust and safety. Therefore the project is based on the veranda which functions as the main intermediate space for guiding all the gradients. Surrounding this veranda is a community which functions as a way to create trust, safety and purpose for the people in late life, encouraging them to get out of bed. The community consists of several households which ensures that no one lives alone, that everyone is in connection with someone and in which everyone can contribute to a community according to their own possibilities. Where the community forms the mental backbone of sensing a purpose in life, the veranda is the physical space that smoothly brings together the indoors and the outdoors, the private, the collective and the public, and the village and the forest. The home and landscape for a sense of purpose in late life enables each inhabitant to contribute to society, to seek adventure in the forest, to talk to their neighbours, to invite grandchildren over, to drink coffee, and most of all to know that tomorrow you have a reason to wake up.

The Dutch population is aging and therefore the Netherlands requires more capacity in care since this is currently not enough. Living independently as long as possible is a solutionand this solution corresponds to the wishes of elderly. Therefore the purpose of this research is to answer the following question: ‘How can architecture extend independent living while supporting elderly (65+) in their feeling of independence in daily life?’ Three types of independence are identified and discussed: the physical, the mental and the emotional independence and these are placed next to the different types of elderly. Because of the importance of feelings in relation to tangible requirements, anthropology and epistemology are the most used methodologies in this research. A difference has been made between environments that stimulate/heal and between environments that help/deals with your abilities. Nature has a big impact on the physical and mental independence, while people also like to show their identity as well as having their own place, which allows them to create a home feeling. Since every person is different, the environment should be diverse so this place can be inclusive. A neighborhood should stand on its own in order to let the people live independently for as long as possible. When growing old your health will deteriorate, this is confronting. Architecture is changeable, life is not. With the identified design options from this research, a built environment can be created that stimulate each person to be independent, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Current elderly housing in the Netherlands is not suited for the needs of the elderly. There is not one type of elderly, but many, all with different needs. A problem lies with one of the groups: anonymous elderly. Even though socially isolated elderly think they are happy, social isolation causes stress and therefore health-related problems. When they get older, the problems will get worse and they need professional care which already has a shortage. Therefore, society should step in and help each other. The following research question is derived from this problem: How can architecture stimulate the social safety of elderly, while maintaining their individuality?
My goal is to create a new concept with architectural tools to develop a place where people can stay for the rest of their lives. A place where they can keep their individuality, but where they can rely on the help of others, even when they can’t ask for it. Designing to create spontaneous encounters can contribute to the social networks of the elderly.