Senior Center Design Workshop Today

The design of the senior center is up for discussion today from 2:30 to 4:30 at the City Hall. Here are some discussion items.

Who are the seniors in Lake Forest?

Whom do we serve? How many are there? Where do they live? What are their main demographics? What do they like to do? What are they doing already and what gaps does a senior center need to fill?

How well does our senior program work?

We have an active senior program already. What elements are working well and what elements aren’t? If we now have a 24/7 physical location, how does that change?

How big should it be?

On a per capita basis, how big are the most well regarded senior centers? In the most well regarded senior centers, do they wish they had more or less space?

What do the best senior centers do?

In the best regarded senior centers, what facilities and services are most recommended? What are the major physical elements that contribute to the best practices?

What architectural elements need to be discussed?

Seniors have their own unique characteristics. What does this imply for the types of floors, lighting, windows size and reflective qualities, ceilings and acoustics, kitchen design, fixed vs. flexible spaces, etc.

I hope to see you there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on March 26 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.