Yicheng / Alan Wang

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016: CROSSING THE GULF OF AGE

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Shanghai, China

Title: Crossing the Gulf of Age
Project Type: Senior Housing Complex
Site: Shanghai, China
Year: 2023

The aging problem is nonnegligible in our society nowadays. In China especially, the population of 60 years old and beyond is about 280 million in 2023, and this number will rise to approximately 400 million by 2035 which will be 35% of total population in China. The living condition of senior citizens in China is an essential topic for all. This project chose to focus on a specific region in China - Shanghai - to explore an alternative to accommodate the aging society.

Nowadays, the majority of senior housing in Shanghai can be categorized into two types: senior community and traditional senior home. The former option offers senior citizens the opportunity to live in a gated community containing numerous apartment blocks and an activity center with needed facilities only for the senior residents. The later one usually consists of one building block with a hospital-like setting where senior citizens will live in different types of room and there will be caretakers on each floor to provide assistance. The senior community type all situated in areas far away from city centers where people live, and at the same time, the comfortable living conditions and comprehensive facilities are at the cost of high price. An average room cost per month is more than double of the average retirement pension of retired citizens. On the other side, the traditional senior homes are much more affordable, however, it comes at the cost of poor living conditions, undertrained caretakers, and mental isolation. Regardless of the pros and cons of both types of senior housing, they have a major problem in common: they forged a community of senior citizens isolated from the rest of the society.

The old people I know love sharing their stories with the younger generation; they love watching people come and go; they have mental connections with the neighborhoods they lived in for their entire lives. If they didn’t have to, they would never want to leave. This project aims to create a place that everyone can afford, where the old can comfortably dwell; a place near home, and a place where the lives of the old and the young may interact and co-exist.

SELECTED DRAWINGS

EST New York

016: CROSSING THE GULF OF AGE

Email: alanwangwyc@gmail.com