Design for Safe Connection Through COVID-19 in Senior Housing and Beyond with Patricia Gruits

Do you ever wonder how can we socially connect and still be safe? What is the role of the design of the physical spaces around us? What strategies could work for both you, and perhaps your loved ones living in senior housing? In Episode 9 of the Shared Space podcast, I sit down with Patricia Gruits of MASS Design Group to explore synergies between designing for COVID-19 and designing for social connection with a special focus on senior living. Patricia shares findings from her recent report “Designing Senior Housing for Safe Interaction The Role of Architecture in Fighting COVID-19”. Understanding the toxic health effects of loneliness, her team identified ways to help people safety connect. We explore how to design for joy, hope, and connection rather than fear. Not ignoring the dangers, but rather finding the synergies in these.

Patricia is a Senior Principal & Managing Director with MASS Design Group, a leading not-for-profit design firm, where she leads both design and research projects in health, education, and equity. Her work has been featured in journals of architecture and design as well as on the BBC World News and the Discovery Channel. She has lectured and taught design across the nation. Patricia has a Bachelor of Science and Master’s in Architecture from the University of Michigan, a program that is well known for their integration of purpose driven design and research that continues to inform her approach today.

Link to the abbreviated transcript of our interview will be here soon: https://www.erinpeavey.com/sharedspace

To learn more about Patricia & The work at MASS Design:

• Patricia Gruit's Bio at MASS Design
• Portable Light Project: The Portable Light Project enables people in the developing world to create and own energy harvesting textiles, providing the benefits of renewable power as an integral part of everyday life.

Links from topics and projects mentioned during our interview:

• Green House Project: A different way to design for aging at scale
• Research on how Green House project homes have fared through COVID-19. Spoiler alert - Green House Project residents have fared much better than other types of skilled nursing.

Designing Senior Housing for Safe Interaction:

• Link to Full Report on MASS Design.
• The team (excerpt from report): MASS Design team members, Patricia Gruits, Katie Swenson, and Regina Yang -- who led the development of the senior living COVID-19 guide. This guide and its design principles were developed through research and focused conversations with leaders in affordable housing development, operation, and design. We are grateful to Jennifer Molinsky of the Joint Center for Housing Studies; Emi Kiyota, founder of IBASHO, for their partnership and to Alma Balonon-Rosen, Massachusetts Housing Partnership; Susan Gittelman, B’nai B’rith; Carrie Niemy, Enterprise Community Partners; Jane Rohde, JSR Associates; and Enterprise Rose Fellows Peter Aeschbacher, Sam Beall, Nick Guertin, Yuko Okabe, Kelsey Oesmann, and Jason Wheeler for their experience, consultation and review.