Designing for sri lankan elderly a study on conducive colours for elders homes

Abstract

Aging of population in Sri Lanka is found to be increasing in an alarming rate. As per the estimations of the department of census and statistics, 1/5 of the total population (20%) will be above60 years by 2030. This may lead in to a definite paradigm shift in the physical and spatial attributes of future buildings and cities conducive and sensitive for psychophysiological requirements of an aging population. In comprehending the spatial needs of Sri Lankan elderly, the current investigation zooms in to colour, an imperative psychophysiological element of design which is neglected and less investigated often. A person’s preference and response to colours are subjected to transformation withage. Accordingly, it was attempted to identify most appropriate colours for Sri Lankan elderly based on their preference, to be integrated into their living environments with special reference to elders’ homes. An elder’s socio-economic state was hypothesized as a significant parameter leading to his/ her colourpreference. Three elders’ homes located in Colombo and representing three most significant economic levels (low, middle and upper) of the society as a cross section were selected to be studied. The responses from 120 elders were obtained using a questionnaire survey and interviews. The research subjects were guided with anA2 size colour palette having72 colour coads as options to select the most conducive colours to be incorporated in generating the corresponding spatial attributes of selected functional spaces; living, dining, bed room, kitchen, religious space, and bathroom of their elders’ homes based on preference. A persons past socioeconomic level characterized by corresponding level of education, social status, political opinions, religious opinions, gender and marital status were identified by this research as significant parameters affecting colour preference of his/her elderly stage. These parameters need to be carefully considered when specifying colours in creating better, conducive environments for elders in future.