In May 2024, we attended the annual ENIEC meeting in Helsinki. The event featured insightful presentations and engaging workshops, providing us with the perfect environment to connect with professionals in the field who share the same values. Among these was Sevilay Luiken-Dalli the director of IMEAN, who shared an exciting project with us for culturally sensitive elderly housing.
As architects from Kokon with a keen interest in age friendly and culture sensitive design, we Alara Külekci and Renske de Meijer organised a co-creation session involving Turkish, Iraqi and Assyrian elderly communities. Collaborating with Sevilay Luiken-Dalli, Kamile Adali and prospective elderly residents, we facilitated an interactive workshop where participants created mood-boards of their ideal future homes and neighborhood. They selected and ranked cards depicting various activities and values, and also contributed their own suggestions. The initial results are promising, offering a glimpse into the diverse preferences and needs of these communities. For example their need for togetherness and recognition. Being able to speak in their own language and receive care from someone that understands them and their needs. We realize this is not only solved by a cultural sensitive building, but asks for cultural sensitive care as well. We eagerly anticipate future sessions to further develop this exciting project.
Furthermore, we had the opportunity to participate in a site visit to Wijkcentrum De Roef in Harderwijk and Zorgerf Buiten-Verblijf in Putten, organised by Yvonne Witter from ZorgsaamWonen and Rabobank. Here, we learned more about the concept of future proof design and got inspired by an amazing example of a (non-closed) dementia village. All thanks to the contacts we formed in Helsinki. We are looking forward to the next ENIEC annual meeting (April 9, 10,11, 2025) in Nijmegen, the Netherlands!
