Estratégias para a Gero-habitação: O estudo de dois projetos de Herman Hertzberger

Abstract

Due to the fast and progressive aging of the world's population, it has become necessary to revise the existing structures and models for housing for the elderly. With the evolution of modern medicine, the rising of quality of life, and of the average lifespan, we witness a change in the way people perceive the process of aging, with the rise of a new generation of elders that bring new types of necessities and wants to this new chapter of their lives. However, most constructions built in this scope either don't have the necessary conditions for a more independent and safe aging process or tend to resemble a hospital with its depersonalized and repetitive characteristics. Thus, the present dissertation intends to contribute to a data base of strategies to be applied to architecture projects regarding housing for the elderly so these can improve the quality of life for these people by answering to their needs without compromising their identity. It should be noted that this will to create a data base for geriatric architecture precedes from the investigation led by architects like Txatxo Sabater and Ricardo Guasch, whom have been defining new concepts and publishing literature in this framework. The strategies assessed in this work result from the study of the two nursing home projects designed by Herman Hertzberger, a benchmark in this field and a pioneer of a more humane architecture for the elderly.