By: Ethan Brammeier
The time has finally come for our first review of the
semester. After doing months of
research, I am quite content with the work I’ve created so far. Although my thesis is far from done, I
think I’m at a great starting point to move into the design phase of the
project. Throughout the rest of
this blog I will share some of the research I’ve done on Assisted Living
Facilities.
The first part of research I conducted was case
studies. Since my chosen site is
in Nashville, Illinois, I wanted to study other assisted living facilities in
Southern Illinois. Out of the several
I researched, there was one I had the opportunity to visit. I was given a tour of Prairie Living
Villa’s in Carbondale by Gary Hill several weeks ago. Visiting this facility gave me a greater understanding of
how an Assisted Living Facility should function. I was shown every room in the facility which helped me in
producing a building program of my own.
It was easy to see the relationships between the rooms seeing them
first-hand. Since I was there
during the day, I also got to see how the residents lived in the
environment. Realizing the benefit
of actually visiting a facility makes me want to visit several more during the
semester.
Since my thesis focuses on designing a Gold
LEED Certified Assisted Living Facility, I’ve started to research the
requirements and types of materials to use. Designing a Gold LEED Certified Assisted Living Facility
that will increase the quality of the building while staying within a close
budget on a non-LEED facility will be hard to come by. That’s why I am going to focus on the
use of materials and systems in the building and worry less about the
costs. Many LEED certified
buildings are designed for future savings. Although they may cost more up front, they will end up
saving more in the life-time of the building through clean energy and efficient
systems.
If you would like to see my entire presentation
board; which includes a site analysis, site plan, site pictures, building
program, case studies, materials, systems, and massing studies, click the link
below.
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