FEATURE ARTICLE, MAY 2011

THE SLEEPOVER PROJECT^SM: A DESIGN STUDY
Dallas-based D2 Architecture immerses its architects in a day-in-the-life of a senior housing resident.
David A. Dillard, AIA

It was the early days of the Great Recession. CSD Architects, a national firm with design staff in Dallas, Baltimore, Miami, and Denver, was committed to sustaining as many employees as possible — both to fulfill the firm’s contractual obligations and to support its dedicated staffers, but we needed to keep their time as productive as possible.

Almost a third of CSD’s staff specialized in housing for seniors in various formats around the country. That included the entire staff in Dallas, now known as D2 Architecture. We were used to a fast pace and a prolific corporate culture. Suddenly, like so many of our peers, we were struggling to see around the corner from the engine of this slow-moving train called The Economy.

What do you tell your team in times like this?

“Pack Your Pajamas”

You tell them to pack their pajamas and go sleep over somewhere, that’s what you do. Thus was born The Sleepover Project^SM design study, which provides clients with design information gathered and evaluated from a systematic research campaign launched to better inform us in the nuances of designing for the aging American population. Its focus is particularly the more frail residents in Assisted Living, Memory Support, and Skilled Care communities across the country. The idea was to spend our downtime “sharpening our saw” so that when the economy turned around we would emerge ahead of the pack, uncommonly informed, and sensitive to the idiosyncrasies of design for octogenarians and beyond. And the reality was that we had a lot more questions than answers.

Would it work? How long would it take? What outcomes could we expect?

The Team

Ironically, the flagging economy had the ultimate effect of slowing the research itself as the original firm, CSD, closed its doors in late 2009. But The Sleepover Project^SM design study and underlying research survived and continues today under the joint leadership of D2 Architecture and the Sociology Department of The University of North Texas. In fact, the UNT team has enhanced the methodology, added academic rigor, and is even contributing student “Sleepers” to the roster itself.

How it Works

Here is how The Sleepover Project^SM design study works: a “Sleeper” arrives on the campus of a designated senior living community at noon, checks in, and is assigned a particular set of limitations such as immobility (wheel chair or walker), vision impairment (special glasses), hardness of hearing (ear plugs), arthritis (taped fingers), eating disorders (special diet), and/or other common handicaps facing our frail friends. Usually it is a combination of the above.

The Sleeper then goes through a 24-hour experience “in character” confined by those limitations, mimicking a day in the life of a resident as closely as possible. The intent is to encounter the realities of the physical environment with eyes wide open (metaphorically, at least) and record the findings on a specified template designed by D2 and UNT to gather data on such topics as lighting, noise, odors, food service, mobility, bathing, floor surfaces, temperature, the outdoor environment, and more.

Depending on the background of the Sleeper — most are architects and interior designers — the findings are recorded by sketches, photographs, and hand-written notes. Currently those notes are being converted to Word documents to enhance the research using word search engines and sorting through common themes that reappear across the various journals.

Criteria: Diverse Communities Deliver a Broad Cross Section

Forty “sleepovers” are scheduled coast to coast, purposefully in a variety of settings:

Urban, suburban, and rural

CCRCs and free-standing special care communities

High-end and affordable

Assisted Living, Memory Support, and Skilled Care (emphasis on the latter two)

All regions of the country

Designed by D2  and by other architects

Setting the Stage for a “Sleepover”

The logistics of the process are straightforward. No money changes hands. Sleepers and their host communities are both provided with a kit in advance explaining their respective terms. They schedule the Sleepover directly at a time that is mutually convenient, lately on very short notice because so many communities have waiting lists at this level of care.

The template for The Sleepover Project^SM design study is intended to mine for both positive and negative details of each community, that is, what works and what doesn’t. We are not interested in code-related shortcomings found in older communities because their remedy is inevitable due to advancements in building codes and various state and federal regulations, like ADA, for example. Our intent is to influence design decisions that are truly discretionary for clients considering new projects whether ground-up or renovations.

Each host community will benefit from the full research once summarized, and can also enjoy anonymity if the journal from their sleepover is not all complimentary. While we reserve the right to publish what we find in situ, we do submit the final draft of The Sleepover Project^SM design study to the community for this purpose, and are happy to identify Sleepover #17, for example, simply as “A High-End CCRC in the Pacific Northwest.”

Designing “By Heart”

In gathering research for The Sleepover Project^SM design study, the researcher IS the resident — an active participant (for a day) for whom the entire process and building are ultimately designed. Not only does this virtual experience intensify the learning process — like the difference between driving through an unfamiliar city and being driven through it — but it also carries the immeasurable advantage of immersing the Sleeper into the situation emotionally. Every Sleeper to date has returned with a dramatically inspired heart to do what they do with more passion and intensity. And they weren’t starting from zero.

The Sleeper-Staff dynamic is admittedly an imperfect and sometimes comical aspect of the project. Staff and residents alike are curious, to say the least, about the new “resident” who looks to be in her 30s and is writing furiously. I will never forget, for example, the look on the face of the residents and new-shift staffers when I miraculously walked out of the dining room after lunch on the second day. I had been literally carried to my seat in full view an hour before. I was later told that it was a religious event for several residents.

The community administrators have the responsibility of trying to set as normal a stage as possible, informing staff in advance, and including in their briefing that the Sleepers are not to be treated as food or movie critics. That, after all, is the point, and vital to the veracity of the research.

— David Dillard, AIA, is founder and president of D2 Architecture, a Dallas-based firm specializing in “active aging” design for seniors. His experience in active aging design includes nationally retirement communities such as Edgemere, Querencia at Barton Creek, The Stayton at Museum Way, Montereau, Terraces at Los Altos and Harbors Edge.

©2011 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.