Design My Place

Group 11

School: Hwa Chong Junior College

Members: Charis Tan Wan Ting, Jezamine Chua, Kylie Tora Basuki Liu,

Leong Jia-Shuen, Lim Jing

Proposal: Geriatrics: An Integrated Approach

After the site recce on Wednesday, our team discovered that there were many elderly residents already living in the Hougang area, and that Hougang would probably experience an ageing population in the next 20 years or so to come. Further research showed that in 20 years’ time, Singapore’s aged population would comprise a quarter of its total population. We also found the serenity of the location to be suited for retirement, therefore decided to build a medical hub at Lorong Halus, specially catering to healthcare and recreation for the elderly. We plan to offer an integrated environment where we can promote an ideal lifestyle for the elderly within a natural environment, while the industrial hub focuses primarily on improving the quality of geriatric care. Our project is called Geriatrics: An Integrated Approach and our vision is to provide a tranquil approach to geriatric care.

Our target group is the nationwide elderly, but we hope that with the development of the hub, we may even reach out to the international market. We intend to provide services for the retired and the ailing, which we will describe in later paragraphs.

The central feature of our hub is the Sunnyside Retirement Village, comprising a care centre and a recreation centre, specifically designed for the elderly to rejuvenate their lifestyles. The basis of the care centre is to provide the elderly with rest and relaxation, as well as an environment where they can actively use their minds and bodies. As such, we have designed the lodgings of the care centre in clusters of 5 buildings, so that the elderly located in one cluster will not be lonely, but can interact with all the other elderly people. Also, forested areas will surround the lodgings, such that the beauty of the flora and fauna will help to soothe the spirits of the elderly.

Right beside the lodgings for the elderly will be the recreation centre. Here, we are promoting an active but slow moving lifestyle to cater to the elderly. As such, the recreation centre will provide activities such as bird watching, taichi, and board games so that the elderly can find places to gather and entertain themselves. There will also be a nearby canal where activities like boat riding will be carried out for the more adventurous and robust elderly. The retirement village itself is specifically catered to the retired elderly who might want to spend some time in a soothing, comfortable environment.

We also plan to utilise the gigantic landfills of rubbish by burning the rubbish as biomass fuel to provide electricity to support the hub. As such, we plan to construct a power plant in between the lodging area, R&D area, and the factories.

The medical centre and hospital, the R&D centre, and the manufacturing centre will all be situated surrounding the care and recreation centre. As such, the movement of the entire hub will centre on the convenience of the elderly. A bicycle and walking track will connect the various sections of the hub to each other, which will facilitate movement of the elderly and the workers working at the manufacturing and R& D sectors. We will be designing lodgings for workers as well for the convenience of those workers who wish to enjoy the lush landscape.

As such, we believe that this integrated approach is the best way to cater to the growing needs of the elderly, and the elderly that come to partake in our facilities will greatly benefit from the integration of tranquillity and healthiness in the lifestyle provided.