Abstract
With community elderly care facilities as the breakthrough point, this paper is based on the field of old community research and model analysis, taking the related residence conversion methods as a philosophical basis and reference, and tentatively proposes optimal residence conversion methods and key points of design in aging old communities. Keywords: residential care facility for the elderly; old community; converting residence; small-scale Research Background and Significance communities, by exploring the conversion of existing There is a large senior population who live in residences into community Residential Care Facilities old communities in Beijing with an urgent need for for the Elderly (RCFE). elderly care facilities. However, the lack of elderly care facilities in the old community makes it difficult 1. The Present Situation of the Old Community and to support home care in the current situation. Due to Elderly Care Facilities in Beijing the fact that the area of the old community is limited, 1.1 Present Situation of the Old Community it is impossible to build a new type of intensive and (1) The Quantity of Old Communities is Large large-scale nursing institution for the elderly. On the In this paper, the term old community refers to the other hand, there are a lot of vacant residences in the residential area funded by the government and state- old community residential area. If these vacant spaces run companies prior to housing reform. Compared with are converted into small-scale elderly care facilities the residential area built after the commercial housing through spatial integration, it would be an effective reform in 1998, most old communities faced more way to solve the problem of the aging society for difficulties in dealing with the management of urban 1) future community development in China. From the infrastructure and community facilities . According to perspective of resource conservation, it is also a re- the national statistics, the number of old communities, use of resources; and at the same time, is a way of located in the central district of Beijing (Dongcheng maintaining a sustainable living environment for District, Xicheng District, Haidian District, Chaoyang the elderly without cutting off the connection and District, Shijingshan District and Fengtai District) relationship with other people. At present, however, is about 1,930. Among them, the number of old the practice and research on residential conversion communities built during the 1980s is about 200, into small-scale elderly care facilities is still relatively which is approximately 10.4% of the total. The number rare. So, there is an urgent need for academic research of old communities built during the 1990s are about and practical exploration for special cases. Based on 650, 33.9% of the total. Most of the old communities in the arguments above, this paper tries to put forward the central districts of Beijing were built in the 1980s new ideas and methods of modification suitable for old and 1990s, about 44.3% of the total communities. This shows clearly that there are a large number of old- 2) fashioned communities in Beijing . *Contact author: Huiqin Hu, Professor (2) The Quantity of Old Urban Communities in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Central City is Large Beijing University of Technology, According to statistics of the "Information on the 100 Pingleyuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100124, China Aging Population and the Development of the Aged 3) Tel: +86-010-67391513 / +8613466575499 of Beijing in 2014" , by the end of 2014, the number Email: skyaj@126.com of the senior population aged 60 and over was 1.96 ( Received April 5, 2017 ; accepted July 23, 2018 ) million in the central districts of Beijing, about 66.16% DOI http://doi.org/10.3130/jaabe.17.409 Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/September 2018/416 409 of the total population of the city's elderly people. The number of the senior population aged 80 and over was 389,000 inhabitants (13.1% of the total population). 1.2 Current Situation of Community Elderly Care Facilities (1) The Type of Elderly Care Facilities is Single in the Old Community According to China's national standard "Building Design Specifications of Elderly Care Facilities 4) GB50867-2013" , the elderly care facility is a building of special or comprehensive services for the elderly to provide living, life care, health care, culture and entertainment, etc., which includes elderly care homes, Distribution map of the elderly aged 60 and over in Beijing nursing homes, elderly day care centers, nursing centers, etc. In China, most of the communities are equipped with elderly activities centers, basic health clinics and other related service facilities. However, construction for the elderly living in daily care facilities (day care and night care) in old communities is still in its infancy. Therefore, for old communities, the intensity and coverage of elderly care services are limited and it is hard to meet the needs of the elderly in the community. (2) The Number of Community Elderly Care Facilities is Small and the Number of Nursing Beds is Insufficient As of the end of 2014, the number of nursing homes Distribution of elder care institutions and beds in Beijing in Beijing was 410, the nursing beds were about 109 thousand, and the number of beds in day care facilities Fig.1. Population Distribution and Elder Care Institutions reached 18 thousand. According to the "9064" elder- Distribution care initiative proposed by the Beijing Municipal 2. Investigation of the Old Community Situation Government, 6% of elderly people need to be cared and Elderly Demand in Beijing for in community care facilities and 4% cared for in 2.1 Basic Information on Elderly Care Facilities in social institutions, that is to say, 178,000 senior people the Old Community need to stay in community care facilities and 119,000 5) The authors and the National Natural Science in social institutions . It is obvious that the number of Foundation team conducted surveys on the old facilities and the number of nursing beds are seriously community of Beijing Chaoyang District from August inadequate in the community, and that it is unable to 2014 - January 2017, covering a total of 20 old meet the needs of the elderly who require care services communities. In this paper, the authors focus on five of in the community area. On the other hand, the elderly these old communities for their study (Table 1.). care facilities are not evenly distributed in Beijing and the data shows that the capacity of nursing beds does Table 1. Summary of Community Situation not match the size of the elderly population. According Huawei Yanjing Tuanjiehu Name to the statistics of the Beijing Elderly Care Industry North West North Development Report in 2015, there are a total of 320 Number A01 A02 A04 elderly care institutions outside of the Fifth Ring Road, Construction Time 1970s 1970s 1970s and the number of nursing beds is 79,000, accounting Area 40ha 22ha 28ha for 83.4% of the total elderly care institutions in Population 12000 14600 11500 Beijing; while within the Fifth Ring Road, which Age over 60 3480 3500 3100 is the center of Beijing, the number of elderly care institutions is 90 and the number with nursing beds is Mofang Nong Name North guangli 30,000, accounting for only 16.6% of the whole city. In Number A05 A08 view of the distribution of the elderly population, the Construction Time 1980s 1980s elderly people in the central districts of the city are far from satisfied with the number of nursing beds (Fig.1.). Area 35ha 15ha Population 9382 9200 Age over 60 2815 2610 410 JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu The survey is divided into two parts: (1) Survey of community elderly care facilities; (2) survey of residences. During surveys, the authors recorded in detail the service facilities and elderly care facilities which are closely related to the life of the elderly in various communities, including health care facilities (community health service stations, clinics, pharmacies, Chinese medicine care, massage care), life service facilities (restaurant for the aged, laundry, housekeeping, hairdressing, supermarket), leisure facilities (activity center, activity station) and elderly care facilities (day care, nursing homes, apartments for the aged) and so on. This article focuses on the analysis of service facilities in communities A02 and A04. Through the statistical data, the authors found that elderly care facilities Fig.2. Comparison and Analysis on the Quantity Distribution of showed an imbalance between different types of service Community Elderly Care Facilities facilities. Fig.2. shows that the number of living services and business services is the largest, accounting for 80% centers, day care centers and nursing homes (Fig.3.). of the total number of facilities in the community, while However, these types of elderly care facilities are the quantity of facilities for the elderly, such as medical in short supply inside the community area, which facilities and day care facilities, is small. cannot meet the basic needs for elderly care in the old community area (Fig.4.). Table 2. Distribution and Quantitative Research of Elderly Care Facilities in Various Communities Yanjing West Tuanjiehu North Name (A02) (A04) Community 22ha 28ha Area Construction 1970s 1970s Time Proportion of the 24% 27% Elderly Location LL ocation ocation Fig.3. Analysis of the Elderly Demands for Service Facilities Lo Lcation ocation Diagram of Diagra Diagra mm of of Diagra Diagra mm of of Community CC om om mm un uin ty it y Co Cm om mm un uin ty it y Service Service Service Service Service F Fa a F Fc c a aiic c llii iitt llii iie e ttiis s e e s s Facilities Statistics of St S atta is tits ic tis c o s o f f StS atta is tt ii sc tisc o s o f f Community C CC o C om m o om m m mm m u un n u uiin n tty y iitt y y Service Service Service Service Service Fig.4. A Comparative Analysis of Community Elderly Care Fa Fc aic li it li ie tis e s Fa Fcaic liitliie tise s Facilities Facilities and Demands 2.3 Situation Concerning Residence in Old Communities Residential adaptive conversion is based on the 2.2 Demands of the Elderly in Old Communities full study of existing residential space on the basis From the service demands for elderly statistics in of the original mode of residential space. The floor communities, we can see that the facilities which the plan and size of the original residence have a strong elderly mostly wish to increase are elderly activities effect on the function and layout of an elderly care stations, restaurants for the aged, elderly counseling facility, which is converted from a residence. In order JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu 411 Fig. 2. Comparis Fig. 2. Comparis Fig. 2. Comparis Fig. 2. Comparis on and on and on and on and Analy Analy Analy Analy s sis is s sis is on the Quantity on the Quantity on the Quantity on the Quantity Distribution Distribution Distribution Distribution of of Com Com m m unit unit yy E E lderl lderl y Care y Care Fac Fac ilil ities ities of of Com Com mm unit unit y E y E lderl lderl y Care y Care Fac Fac ilities ilities to further analyze the status of the existing residence in old communities in Beijing, the authors selected some typical residential buildings in communities A08, A01 and A05 as samples to conduct an in-depth analysis of the users' basic situation, floor plan and the conversion possibilities of residential buildings. Then the authors classified the area, space combination, function and other contents of the residence (Fig.5.). Nong Guang Li Huawei North Name (A08) (A01) Community 15ha 40ha Area Construction 1980s 1970s Time Proportion of 28.4% 29% the Elderly Diagram of Residence types in the Old Community The Fig.6. Residence Plan Sketches Proportion of Different 2.4 The Feasibility of Residence Conversion into Types of RCFE Dwellings In summary, the basis of residence conversion and in the Old feasibilities can be concluded as follows: Community (1) National Policy Orientation At present, the elderly care policy in China is mainly focused on small-scale, multi-functional elderly care Fig.5. Type, Distribution and Quantity of Residences in the Community facilities. It is highly recommended to make full use of existing resources for the construction of elderly care According to the relevant research and community facilities through replacement, withdrawal, conversion, survey, the authors summarized the residence building etc. The government encourages private enterprises to types of the old communities in Beijing during the take part in the construction of elderly care facilities, 1970s and 1990s. From the residential structural point reduces the access threshold, and subsidizes nursing of view, during the 1970s and 1990s, the existing beds for the elderly. Communities with elderly care residence was mainly constructed of brick and concrete, facilities as core services have gradually become the prefabricated plate structure and a frame shear wall. trend of elderly care development. Brick and concrete structural residence buildings have (2) Residence Conversion with an Emotional Family no more than six floors without an elevator. From the Sustenance point of view of unit layer plane composition, it can be As RCFE converted from residential buildings divided into five types: one floor for two households, are not much different from the originals, the elderly one floor for three (four) households, one floor for more do not need to take a long time to adapt to the new households, inner corridor and corridor. From the point environment. In the meantime, the RCFE does not of view of quantitative analysis, one floor consists of cut off the elderly's contacts with their old neighbors, three households, and one floor of more households which is conducive to the establishment of a sense of accounts for almost half of the older communities, belonging and realizing the "non-institutionalization" while the internal corridor-style residences are also of elderly care facilities. common. These different types of residences can (3) Saving Costs and Land Resources provide an enriched conversion method and content for RCFE, converted from existing residences, are the RCFE (Fig.6.). achieved mainly on the internal space adjustment of 412 JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu the residence, or through addition, merging and other corner of the community, with the accessibility and methods. Private enterprises or individuals can put the diversity of services. service in use quickly and efficiently after conversion , saving costs and land resources. This is also a way to revive idle resources. 3. Research on the Type and Method of Residence Conversion into RCFE Based on the above research on the status of elderly care facilities and the most pressing needs of elderly in old communities, considering the basic conditions such as the scale, the population of old people and the type of houses in old communities, the authors will summarize the RCFE in old communities into three types, which are day care RCFE, nursing care RCFE and multifunctional RCFE, as well as making an exploration of the ways to convert various types of RCFEs. The following is a breakdown of these three types. 3.1 Day-care RCFE in Old Communities (1) Service Group and Content A Day-care RCFE helps to serve the elderly who need care services and those who cannot live by themselves, but do not need sustained medical care. The service groups include the elderly who are living alone, seniors and semi-disabled. The service contents of Day-care RCFE are mainly for day care services, catering services, personal care, entertainment and other content, and provide morning and evening pick- up. The elderly go to Day-care RCFE for day care and nursing services during the daytime and participate in various activities for the elderly. After that, they return to their original house for rest at night. This kind of RCFE can continue to maintain home-based care for the elderly and enable them to regain their ability to take care of themselves and delay their stay in the social elderly care institutions through Day-care RCFE. (2) Type of Residence Suitable for Conversion to Day-care RCFE Among households, the ones that are more suitable Fig.7. Conversion Methods for Day-care RCFE for conversion to Day-care RCFE are the residences of a floor for two, one floor for three and one floor 3.2 Nursing-care RCFE in Old Communities for more households. If the elderly care facility is (1) Service Group and Content small and the housing area is large, it can be designed A Nursing-care RCFE can provide daily care, night through single-family conversion or part conversion accommodation and other services for the elderly, short of the dwelling houses, and the rest of the space will stay is generally 3-5 days and long stay up to several continue to be used as a dwelling; otherwise, they may months. The elderly people return to their homes after be designed through other conversion methods. they have recovered from rehabilitation and care in a (3) Conversion Methods Nursing-care RCFE in old communities. Therefore, The conversion method is based on the original the elderly are in a cyclical process between their own residential units. For example, through the functional residence and a Nursing-care RCFE until they are replacement method, we can convert the bedroom to a unable to take care of themselves and gain admission Day-care RCFE with added service function or build to large institutional elderly care facilities. Therefore, additional space in front of the house as a service the elderly still stay in their familiar environment room. We can also merge two original residential without cutting off the connection with other people households into a larger Day-care RCFE. As shown in during the cyclical process. Fig.7., depending on the gross floor area of the original Nursing-care facilities serve the elderly who home, a Day-care RCFE should not be oversized and are semi-self-care, disabled and those who need can be distributed in large numbers and flexibly in any rehabilitation care. JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu 413 (2) Type of Residence Suitable for Conversion to RCFE should not be too small. Also, it can be built at Nursing-care RCFE a convenient place for traffic or at the center of the old Residences of one floor for three households, one community. floor for more households or corridor/corridor are 3.3 Multifunctional RCFE in Old Communities suitable for conversion into Nursing-care RCFE, which It is also possible to create a mixed community-based require more spaces for multi-functions including elderly care facility, which is a Multifunctional RCFE living, nursing, activities etc. with a combination of Day care RCFE and Nursing (3) Conversion Methods care RCFE. Functions include both daily care, activities and other services, while professional nursing, night accommodation and other functions are also available. For example, between two residential buildings in an old community, one household or an entire floor of a residential building may be converted into a Nursing-care RCFE. And combined with Day-care RCFE, a Multifunctional RCFE is formed for nursing care, day care, short-term residence, visits and other comprehensive demands. Through the overhead and bottom, a Day-care RCFE may be connected to the second or the third floor of two buildings. The road and the green space in the old community could be retained at the bottom of the Day-care RCFE with their original functions unchanged. On the other hand, the Day-care RCFE and the Nursing-care RCFE can be connected with each other in an effective way and form a circular route. The elderly could walk around this route for indoor activities without going outside. This conversion method can improve the nursing service quality of the Multifunctional RCFE as it takes advantage of a mixed space combination in an economical and efficient way (Fig.9.). Fig.8. Conversion Methods for Nursing-care RCFE Due to the specialties and complex functions of Nursing-care RCFE, we need to take sizes, floor plans and structures of the existing residences into consideration during the conversion process. For example, a larger area may be added between two residential buildings, or two or more of the original households in the same floor may be merged into a larger unit as shown in Fig.8. According to the original households' area, the area of Nursing-care Fig.9. Conversion Methods for Multifunctional RCFE 414 JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu 3.4 Method of Converting a Residence into an (3) Merge Method RCFE in Old Communities in China The merge method changes the division of the Japanese scholar Shuichi Matsumura wrote a book original tenants in the residential building. The units named Residence Regeneration - Rejuvenate the new will be re-divided and integrated, so as to obtain a collection of European and American Homes, He new space structure. In the process of conversion, combined the theory of residence regeneration and it is necessary to connect two units at the horizontal advanced concept and technical methods applied or vertical level to ensure the safety of the original in community renewal and residence conversion in structures and double the living area of an interior European countries and the United States through space. a large number of researches and analyses, then (4) Spatial Reorganization Method put forward the living environment and operational The spatial reorganization method re-integrates the 6) strategy for sustainable development ; The book interior space of the house by moving, dismantling and Residence Regeneration Design Manual by Japanese creating new partitions inside the house, so that the architectural firm MIKAN elaborated the housing space inside the house has changes in scale, function renewal strategy from the perspectives of various and spatial organization to satisfy the different needs of possibilities in residence conversion, and analyzed the elderly (Fig.11.). 7) residence conversion techniques by typical cases . On Additional construction the other hand, the United States, Europe, Japan and Replacement method method other countries have also carried out this practice for different types of residence conversion facilities for the elderly, which laid the foundation for the study of this article. Through reference to the above theories and Add construction between examples of conversion practice, the authors try to Single space replacement buildings put forward a suitable method for converting existing residences into residential care facilities for the elderly in old communities in China and summarize it as the "4 x 9" method (Fig.10.). Multi-space replacement Bottom space expansion Whole building replacement Additional construction for parts Merge method Space reorganization method Fig.10. Method of Residence Conversion into RCFE (1) Functional Replacement Method The functional replacement method is to add non- Horizontal merging Space reorganization residential functions into the interior of a residential space from the perspective of functional use, so that the existing residence can have a variety of functions by forming a new space for elderly care. According Vertical merging to the different types of residence and demands, it can be divided into three sub-categories: single space Fig.11. Schematic Diagram of the Conversion Method replacement, multi-space replacement and whole building replacement. 4. Positioning and Comparison (2) Additional Construction Method (1) The Similarity between Converted RCFE and The additional construction method is to add Traditional Elderly Care Facilities construction inside the original house, besides the According to the definition of "2.0.3 Community house apart from the original residence. The advantage Elderly Care Facilities" in the Local Standard for of the additional construction method is that it can Engineering Construction in Beijing of Community use the additional structure to combine modern Elderly Care Facilities Design Standards, Public construction technologies with the existing residence service facilities provided for the elderly, include to revitalize the original houses. special care facilities such as nursing facilities, day JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu 415 care stations and other public service facilities, as References 1) Linle. Talking about the Conversion of Old Residential Areas in well as community health service stations, community Cities [J]. J·C·construction, 2016, 35. disabled service centers, community management 2) Lijie. Current Situation and Evaluation of Beijing's Urgent service rooms and other public services providing Renewal and Reconstruction of Old Residential District [J]. City, related services for the elderly. Therefore, the object 2007, 03:59-62. in the study covers the category of community elderly 3) Beijing 2014 population information and status of the elderly Aging Development Report [EB/OL]. http://zhengwu.beijing.gov. care facilities. In actual conversions, we should cn/Stjxx/tjgb/t1412150.htm, 2015-11-26. comprehensively analyze the current situation of a 4) Building Design Specifications of Elderly Care facility GB50867- residence, and apply proper methods suitable for residential conversion based on the relevant standards 5) Beijing Elderly Care industry blue book: Beijing Elderly Care of research. industry development report (2015) [M]. Zhou Mingming, Feng Xiliang. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press, 2015. (2) The Difference between Converted RCFE and 6) (Japan) Shuichi Matsumura. Residential regeneration - to renovate Traditional Elderly Care Facilities the new European and American collection of residences [M]. Fan Different scale: the scale of residence conversion yue, Liu Tongtong Translation. Beijing: Machinery Industry Press, of the facilities in this paper is smaller than other community elderly care facilities, and the number of 7) (Japan) MIKAN. Residential Recycling Design Handbook [M]. Fan Yue, Zhou Bo Translation. Dalian: Dalian University of nursing beds is around 10, which is a "micro" elderly Technology Press, 2009. care facility. Therefore, streamlining, space functions, spatial combination patterns and other aspects of the Authors: elderly care facilities are different. 1. Huiqin Hu: Beijing University of Technology, 100 Pingleyuan, Different service area: the services range of Chaoyang District, Beijing 100124, China. "micro" elderly care facilities, is different from other 2. Zhiqiu Xu: Urban and Rural Planning Administration Center, 9 community elderly care facilities. As the residence Sanlihe Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100835, China. 3. Guanyu Che: CCCC HIGHWAY SURVEY & DESIGN CO., conversion of the facilities with the features of "small, LTD. OF FHEC, Zhoujiajing Yard, Guanzhuang Area, Chaoyang spiritual, and more", it can be set in the community District, Beijing, 100024, China. flexibly, and the service area will be less than other community elderly care facilities. Different service: covering the function of the RCFE in this paper includes living, life care, medical care, day care, elderly activities and other integrated services, which fails to include health service stations, disabled services, and management services in the community area. 5. Conclusion This paper summarizes the four major categories and discusses the nine small class conversion methods on how to use vacant residences converted into the RCFE. Similarly, it also explores the conversion feasibility in the old community area. However, the authors acknowledge the necessity to conduct more research to test these methods. Due to study limitations, the study did not address the age-appropriate design of the RCFE's interior spaces. In addition, the construction of RCFE is a new thing and there are many challenges and researches that the authors still need to follow-up: such as fire protection, water protection, evacuation, emergency and other issues, and key technologies such as structural coping strategies. Acknowledgment This research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China: 51378022. All figures and tables in this research were designed by the author. 416 JAABE vol.17 no.3 September 2018 Huiqin Hu
Journal
Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
– Taylor & Francis
Published: Sep 1, 2018
Keywords: residential care facility for the elderly; old community; converting residence; small-scale
