Designing for Social Connectedness

While the landscape of senior care and living options are changing to support independent living in a community setting, it may not alleviate one's sense of loneliness and social isolation, which are growing areas of concern for today's seniors.

The STUCK team set out to identify opportunities to increase social connectedness among seniors, in their home environment. To better understand the social context of seniors in Singapore, we interviewed gerontology experts and elder care providers, and seniors and future seniors in their 40s to 80s, living in different living arrangements.

In our research, we observe that while some seniors prefer to stay within the comfort of their homes, sometimes due to mobility challenges, they are also very creative in reaching our to others.

From putting up temporary curtains on tension rods to transform a front door into a semi-open space, to designing coded messages with friends (for example, a daily missed call = "I’m okay", double missed calls = "please call me back"), the seniors invite interactions with others at an intensity and pace of their choosing.

Inspired by their stories, we identified three key design principles that can work together to facilitate opportunities of interaction for seniors while preserving their sense of independence and autonomy:

A PEEK

LIGHT
INTERACTIONS

ROUTINES

Increasing visual connectedness and
"check-in" opportunities
Facilitating small interactions without
the need to feel
overly committed
Connecting personal routines with social activities and communal spaces
Applying these design principles to the assisted living context, we demonstrate how boundaries between private and communal spaces can be softened when we rethink three common home elements : the door, window and photo frame.

DOOR AJAR

"I'd always leave my door open. So I can hear whoever is standing there or calling me."

– Senior, 79
Control over your personal privacy

Leaving a door ajar allows passers-by to take a peek to make sure all is well. STUCK reimagines the door with a flexible facade that provides seniors better control over security and privacy.

Sliding door with adjustable louvres

Resident can decide how much passers-by can peek into your private living space by controlling the degree of opening of the louvres. A visual expression of the residents' willingness for social exchange, or subtle invitation for a neighbourly check-in:

Open - Encourages exchange of greetings and visual check-ins
Closed - Signals a need for privacy

Patterned veils

In this variation, overlapping pattern layers create different visual porosities over the entrance of one's home.

CONVERSATION WINDOW

"Normally old people won't entertain people knocking on the door, but I leave my door open... anybody who comes and goes 'auntie...'"

– Senior, 81
Blended space and routines

Adding a ledge at the height of the table to the window by the hallway transforms the "barrier" (a wall or closed window) into a "conversation spot" or "activity zone" between residents and neighbours.

Kopi Talk

While enjoying coffee by the window, residents can have small serendipitous interactions or share a bite with neighbours without having them come entirely into your home.

Communal routines

An exploration to blend and combine private spaces with communal routines.

In the instance of gardening, your private planter bed by the window is part of a community garden and can be cared for collectively by the community, who also watches for one another.

LIFE-SHARE
PHOTO FRAME

"I love photos. Having the photo frame means I can see them in front of me day and night. I'm very grateful that it doesn't only make me happy, it also helped me to make more people happy! "

– Senior, 72

A Window to my world

The Life-Share Photo Frame is designed for seniors and their community to share and revisit cherished moments of their lives together.

Photos are treasured possessions that bear one’s past and identity. Digital photos and videos are habitually shared among friends and family to keep in touch and update about our lives. It is also typical practice to showcase photos of our loved ones in our homes — something commonly seen on prominent display in seniors' living spaces.

We explored how a digital photo frame can be better designed as a bridge to connect seniors with their families, and to also bolster connections within the community they are living in. Different types of content were tested:
- Family photos
- Facility activity photos
- Religious / Inspirational quotes
- Nature

Shared usable ledge extending from inside the home, through the wall, into the common space that becomes a platform for conversation and activities between you and your neighbour. Blurring the boundary between private and communal spaces to create opportunities for social interactions and building
common routines.

Photo Frame made for sharing

Digital photo frame made instinctively portable, with a dual-function handle to afford confident handling by seniors when on the move and to remain stable when rested on a tabletop. A handy way to share photographed moments as conversation starters and support for social interactions with peers.