E07 – Master Planning: Creating the Path to a Successful Senior Living Project
A well-considered and successful senior living project begins with a road map for the process to accomplish its operational success but should also contribute to the advancement of the senior living design and operational knowledge base. Achieving that success takes thoughtful goal setting and intensive programming prior to lines being put on paper. Setting of goals by all team members, understanding operational functions, critically reviewing financial situations, and addressing the target market are all necessary to a meaningful master plan for the project. The plan should provide a smooth design initiation, which, in turn, should support an operational model that is resident-oriented, staff-efficient and sustainable. But the plan should also be intuitive, allowing residents and staff to immediately understand how the spaces function. After occupancy, the operations team must be fully cognizant of the advantages of the design and its ability to provide state-of-the-art senior care. A post-occupancy evaluation completes the circle by providing an in-depth review of the result of the process. This adds a great deal of information into the knowledge base for future projects as well as providing an understanding of what worked well and what didn't work in the process and in the design.


