Gail Boger is an Associate, Project Manager/Architect with LRS Architects in their Portland, Oregon office. Keith Imper is the Strategic Marketing Lead for Charter Construction with office locations in both Seattle, WA & Portland, OR.
Transcript
Gail (
00:01):
LRS does senior living either from stand-alone memory cares to lifetime communities and everything in
between.
Keith (
00:17):
You're listening to Punch List, a very short podcast produced by Charter Construction. We'll speak with
business partners, clients, and charter employees to gain the people perspective about what they do
and why.
Keith (
00:35):
I'm your host, Keith Imper. Last week, me and my colleague, Jeannie Crouch, caught up with architect
Gail Boger of Portland based LRS Architects. We wanted to find out more about designing for senior
living facilities, and we just knew she was going to be a great resource.
Gail (
01:11):
I personally have been working in senior housing for 30 years, so I've seen a lot of changes in it. And my
specialty right now is memory care because it's so interesting and so involved.
Keith (
01:26):
Before speaking with Gail, I didn't realize everything that goes into designing a senior living facility. I was
especially struck by the importance of light as we age, which turns out to be a key element in Gail's
designs.
Gail (
01:45):
As they eyes age, they come down with macular degeneration, glaucoma, hardening of the lens,
yellowing of the lens, so what that does is it changes your perception of colors, that something that is
dark blue, maroon, dark green, all just kind of looks brown. One of the things that we use and that our
interiors uses is actually a yellow film, so when you lay out whatever you think looks really good, you put
that in front of your eyes and see what it looks like.
Keith (
02:17):
Since Gail's design focus is on memory care, I asked her about the impact of light on dementia and
Alzheimer's patients, something that hits home for me personally.
Gail (
02:27):
The Circadian rhythms are extremely important. They trigger your sleep cycle. And as they're finding out
that it is during the time of sleep that your brain actually produces a fluid that comes in and cleans it
out, cleans out the toxins. Some of those toxins are beta-amyloids, which have been found to contribute
to Alzheimer's. So getting that light, getting that bright light, at the right times of day to help trigger
those is just incredibly important.
Gail (
03:02):
Then arguing too, as us, as architects, arguing to get the lighting in there, to get the windows in there
and maybe [inaudible
00:03:11] lighting, which is possible now with LEDs, very popular, and you can
mimic the light cycle throughout the day for the people that are not getting out, or you don't have that
access to the windows.
Keith (
03:25):
After our conversation with Gail, I was glad to know that people like her were thinking thoughtfully and
caringly for those living in senior living facilities. At the end of the day, when we think about
architecture, for me at least, what comes to mind are beautiful homes along the water or a striking
performing arts center, but rarely do we consider the time and effort that architects put into senior
living. So from all of us at Charter Construction, a big thank you to Gail and the entire team at LRS
Architects.
Keith (
04:06):
You've been listening to Punch List, a very short podcast produced by Charter Construction. And once
again, thank you to Gail Boger.