Intergenerational Care and Community Center

Graduate Design Studio

Tait Johnson, Fall 2018

This integrative design proposal for Dwight, IL, situates an Intergenerational Care and Community Center along the Illinois high-speed rail corridor. The mixed-use facility contains meeting spaces for local civic groups, business groups, and individuals, as well as the Care Center. This project type, increasingly popular in the U.S., allows workers to place senior parents in the care of the Center during the day, and return to pick them up and resume family care after work. Uniquely, it is also a site for child daycare with specifically programmed spaces and supervised activities allowing interaction and mutual benefit between these two generational cohorts.

The children’s and adults’ individual spaces envelop the centralized, shared spaces, both indoor and outdoor.  There is also a visual connection to the outdoor spaces from both the children’s and adults’ wing that allows for indirect interaction.  These interconnected spaces allow for improved experiences for everyone. The building seeks to serve as a dynamic meeting, caregiving, and learning space for the community across generations.