Privacy and Well-Being in Aged Care Facilities with a Crowded Living Environment: Case Study of Hong Kong Care and Attention Homes.

This study aims to understand the relationship between bedroom privacy and well-being of the elderly in aged care facilities with a compact living situation. A majority of studies on this topic were carried out in a low-density population context. The crowded living situation might compromise the well-being of residents. This study proposed five architectural parameters to measure bedroom privacy in aged care facilities: total open surface per unit, openness/solid ratio per bed, height of partition wall, number of people per unit, and personal control over bedroom privacy. SF-12 v.2 Health Survey was used to collect information on physical and mental health status. The study surveyed nine Care & Attention homes and their 213 residents in Hong Kong. The total open surface per unit and the openness/solid ratio per bed were positively associated with the physical health of residents. The height of partition walls was associated negatively with their physical and mental health conditions, and the number of people per unit was negatively associated with their physical health. More than half of respondents preferred a single unit with high partition walls; however, 40% of respondents preferred low partition walls. The provision of privacy for the elderly should be balanced with their needs for social interactions; total open surface per unit, openness/solid ratio per bed and height of partition wall should be taken into consideration. The study provides evidence and design guidelines for improving privacy in aged care facilities with a compact living environment.

Legibility of floor plans and wayfinding satisfaction of residents in Care and Attention homes in Hong Kong.

OBJECTIVE: Focusing on Hong Kong Care and Attention homes which provide residential care, meals, personal care and limited nursing care for older people, this study aimed to understand the impact of floor plans' legibility (layout and complexity) on residents' wayfinding satisfaction and self-reported health status. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted in nine Care and Attention homes. Space syntax, a well-established method, was used to evaluate the legibility of their floor plans via calculating the integration value. RESULTS: Familiarity with Care and Attention homes did not influence the residents' satisfaction with wayfinding. The integration value had a significant impact on residents' satisfaction with wayfinding. No relationship was observed between integration value and self-reported health status. CONCLUSION: Increasing complexity in floor plans appears to negatively affect residents' wayfinding satisfaction. These data suggest that circulation patterns should be improved for better wayfinding.

Contextualizing green building rating systems: Case study of Hong Kong.

The paper reports on a research study undertaken on the differentiation of green building certification systems at an international, national and local level. Through a cross comparison, authors are able to explain the differences by the contextualism theory which could be traced back to the fundamental divergence on lifestyles, preferences, urban morphology besides climatic variations. The discussion is derived from a study of three green rating systems representing international, national and local systems with reference to intentions, mechanisms and benchmarks to facilitate objective assessments. For the case of Hong Kong, local challenges are identified and compared with counterparts at a national level. Two residential projects having certified by the 'modified, localized' national system is selected for a case study for synopsis with a view to explain the cause and effect of transferability versus non-transferability of assessment credits and protocols. Introducing and applying national and international systems to a local context can detect flaws in local design practices that may be ignored in the local rating system.