Architectural Quality of Long-Term Care Facilities: Designing for Ageing

Author : Vesna Zegarac Leskovar

Abstract :The quality of architectural and urban design in long-term care (LTC) environments significantly affects the well-being, autonomy, and social inclusion of older adults. This paper presents a conceptual design for a long-term care community that integrates key evidence-based principles, such as small-scale household models, personalised private rooms, high-quality indoor and outdoor environments, and strong connections to the broader urban fabric. The proposed framework was developed through academic research and municipal collaboration in Slovenia. A comparative case study was conducted to evaluate a LTC facility that was later constructed on the same site but followed a markedly different approach. The analysis reveals substantial deviations from the original concept in terms of spatial organisation, residential layout, and landscape quality. These findings emphasise the importance of aligning built environments with human-centred design standards, and demonstrate the value of conceptual design evaluation as a tool for improving long-term care architecture

Keywords :Ageing, Architectural Design, Living Environments, Long-Term Care Facilities, Nursing Home

Conference Name :International Conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design (ICSAUD-25)

Conference Place Bali, Indonesia

Conference Date 5th Aug 2025