Environments for Aging - Spring 2020 - 22

COMMUNITY
should include where a material is sourced,
the amount of energy and resources it takes
to make the product, and how the product
is transported to the site. Materials that have
high embodied carbon, such as steel and
concrete, should be avoided when possible.

Landscape design
A community's landscape design can be a
powerful tool to reduce the effects of increasing global temperatures while also increasing resident well-being. Strategies such as
using drought-tolerant plantings, harvesting
rainwater and greywater, and adding mulch
to reduce irrigation demands in the hottest
months can save considerable water costs.
Rainwater capture systems can be added
easily as part of a minor renovation by rerouting gutters to water-containment devices,
where water can be stored and then used for
irrigation. Greywater systems are simplest
to achieve when connected to residential
washing machines during initial construction

EFAmagazine.com * Spring 2020

but can also be done as part of a moderate
renovation. In these systems, diverters are
connected to the waste lines of a washing
machine and gravity or pumps pull the water
to storage cisterns, which are then connected
to the irrigation system.
With a resident population that's susceptible to high temperatures, it's important to
strategically place greenspace and trees to
reduce perceived temperature. Hardscapes
accumulate and store heat during the day,
radiating that heat out as the ambient air
cools. Adding trees for shade and replacing
hardscape with plantings, especially on the
west side of buildings, can mitigate stored
heat in buildings. Green roofs can also help to
reduce temperatures and capture rainwater.

Tax incentives may help reduce this. But it's
important to note that with these investments,
the cost of a building over the entire life cycle
is typically much lower than conventional approaches, as are monthly utility costs.
When factoring in the number of potential
extreme climate events, the total cost of owning and operating senior living communities
that are net zero will be exponentially lower
because these approaches create a more
resilient building and positively impact risk
avoidance for responding to climate events.
Resilient design strategies can help owners
save money over the life of a building, make
for a more marketable community, and create
a healthier environment that's better able to
adapt to a changing climate. EFA

Healthier future

Alexis Denton, an architect and gerontologist, is
an associate principal at Perkins Eastman (San
Francisco). She can be reached at a.denton@
perkinseastman.com. Stet Sanborn is a mechanical engineer at SmithGroup (San Francisco). He can
be reached at stet.sanborn@smithgroup.com.

These strategies can range from a five to
15 percent premium in upfront costs compared to standard approaches, dependent on
complexity of the system, location, and size.

https://www.aamsco.com/ https://www.aamsco.com/ http://www.EFAmagazine.com

Environments for Aging - Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Environments for Aging - Spring 2020