Design For Aging - Exchange

A lush center for intergenerational connection suggests a new housing paradigm for Singapore.

- Laura Raskin

According to a United Nations report on aging, the number of people on the planet who are 60 or over was 962 million in 2017, more than twice as many as in 1980. This number is expected to double again by 2050, when it is projected to reach nearly 2.1 billion.

In Singapore specifically, the proportion of citizens age 65 and above is increasing rapidly as population growth slows. Local architecture firm WOHA has done its part to help create a new housing paradigm for this elder boom—one that promotes physical activity and multigenerational interaction. Located in the north of the island city-state, Kampung Admiralty is a onestop hub with 104 senior apartments and a host of connected facilities and amenities, including a medical center, a pharmacy, retail, restaurants, a hawker center (an open-air pavilion with food stalls, common throughout Singapore), and a public park and plaza.