The old folks have returned..

This semester i'm required to do a research on the elderly and the current situations here in Malaysia. I've started the research with an article i've found in a book which explains the situations they are facing now. They are the 'INTERIM GENERATION' which the generation that has gotten stuck in between the government's agenda and the social paradox that we are living now (this applies to the developing countries like Malaysia and the surrounding countries in South East Asia region).

1. Government focuses their money on economical issues to boost up the economy which less money is provided for the social welfare of the citizen.
2. We tend to have nuclear family rather than big extended family which as we grow old, our children don't have the time to take care of us since they too got busy with their life. and we don't have the 'spare' children to look after us.

As i go on with my research, i have found that the numbers of elderly in malaysia had doubled for the past 20 years which in 2000, there are 1.4 million elderly in Malaysia. and the number will quadrupled in 2030!!

You can get the info from this PDF file. Click Here

and the issues with the existing old folks home in Malaysia, we don't have proper old folks home here and not even one of them are like or close to the facilities provided at the Almshouse in UK! You need to check out the facilities they have there and some old folks home in U.S. I have found a research paper on the swedish old folks home and the solutions that they have come up with to make the elderly feels like home.

Click Here

(feel free to just email me at izreeh87@gmail.com to get further info's that i have gathered through out the semester. I got alot more really.)

the solutions that i have come out with for this project is to integrate the living, working and leisure activities among elderly as;

1. most elderly (64 percent of them ) is living in urban areas.. (surprising isn't it?)
2. most of them are not working and they aren't the 'best' social group to be hired due to the physical constraints and lack of primary education.
3. they haven't been given the freedom to live in a community like they used to.

Living

1. community within community dwellings.
8 units of houses which in every single unit comprise of 2 bedrooms, 2 separate bathrooms which cater either 2, 3, or 4 people (depending on the types of units that i have designed) in one area where i called a 'module' which basic necessity like open kitchen, living area, laundry room, a staff room and a courtyard (as the threshold space for the elderly) is provided.


2. working zone as the elderly can teach us the secondary or tertiary education which we are lacking now (or the much needed skills to survive in life, cooking, sewing, etc.)

3. the leisure activities such as gymnasium, mini library, tai chi ground, green house for gardening, hobby room and workshop to enhance their health and mind state as we all know, as you age, your physical and mental health will deteriorate. i've planned to segregate all the activities as i try to make them walk which it is some sort of unconscious physical activity.

4. but we all know, elderly tends to get lost easily and they will get body ache if they walk too much. so the senses gardens act as a node and stopping point for them to relax while enjoying the interactive fun with the senses triggering technology like the 'motion pole' which sense the motions of passersby and produce different tunes based on how fast the motion it sensed moves. or the color sticks which emit different color depends on the speed of the passerby.

but sadly, i don't have enough time to produce excellent design outcomes (so as the other students in my work base) because there are just too many presentations that we have to do (almost every 2-3 weeks we will have a presentation and there are times when we did presentations 3 weeks in a row! it's just crazy!). Here are my final presentation boards for the project.



i know it is not as up to as what you guys expected it to be. but hey, i've did all these in 1 and a half weeks, so i know somehow i should be proud of it! =)