In Flanders, people are strongly attached to their homes and generally wish to stay there for as long as possible. However, many homes were not designed to be lived in for a lifetime. Architect and researcher Sander Lambrix has analyzed the relationship between our homes and our well-being as we grow older. His conclusion: a home is much more than just a physical environment, whether or not it is suited to an ageing body. People and their homes are deeply connected on an emotional level.
This tension is becoming increasingly significant. Flemish policy also strives to enable people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible and supports adaptations that make this possible. At the same time, housing suitable for all stages of life is becoming an ever-greater challenge due to the ageing population.
“When we talk about ageing and housing, we think either of physical accessibility – no stairs or thresholds, an adapted bathroom, wider doors – or of emotional experiences such as memories or social relationships,” explains Lambrix. “This is, of course, important, but within a home, these physical and emotional aspects are often more closely linked than one might think at first glance.”
As part of his PhD thesis, Lambrix visited older people in their homes, spoke with residents as well as the architects who designed their homes, and used architectural plans to map the relationship between the individual and their residential environment. This research thus combines perspectives from architecture and gerontology, the science that studies ageing. Mr Lambrix is conducting his research within the ‘Designing for More’ research group at Hasselt University and the ‘Society and Ageing Research Lab’ at the VUB.
According to Lambrix, a home is constantly evolving alongside its occupants. Furniture finds its place, objects accumulate memories, rooms take on new functions, and the environment surrounding the home also changes. At the same time, this home influences what the occupants are still capable of doing, how they organise their daily routines, and how they feel. Well-being therefore does not stem solely from an individual or the characteristics of a building, but from the interaction between the occupants, their bodies, the home, their personal belongings and the environment. This relational approach is one of the study’s key findings.
It also explains why the seemingly logical solution – namely, moving to a smaller, more suitable home – is not necessarily an obvious choice for older people. Leaving one’s home also means saying goodbye to a place where habits, relationships and memories have been built up over the years.
Lambrix therefore advocates a broader view of housing throughout the life course. The question ‘Is the home suitable for an older resident?’ is not the only one that matters; we must also ask: ‘What is it that makes this person feel at home here, specifically?’
According to Lambrix, this approach offers new possibilities for architects, policy-makers and healthcare professionals. By gaining a better understanding of how people and their living environments age together, it is possible to design homes and neighbourhoods that are not only physically accessible, but also enable people to age in a fulfilling way.
The title of the PhD thesis is: Affective Entanglements of Ageing and Architecture – Understanding the Relationship between Well-being, Housing and Ageing in Flanders at UHasselt and the VUB. This thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr Ann Petermans and Prof. Dr Jan Vanrie of Hasselt University, as well as by Prof. Dr An-Sofie Smetcoren of the VUB.
