• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.95-104
• /
• 2014

Today, the number of the elderly living alone without any family members is on a sharp rise, and those aged people living alone are making these social issues such as solitary death, depression and suicide more popular. In order to resolve the issues, some of the local governments have been supporting the elderly living alone in common houses that would be used by senior citizens only. This study became interested in this 'carnation house' which has been carried out targeting the elderly living alone in Gyeonggi-do, and selected elementary universal design factors that should be applied to general residential environments of the aged people and analyzed the factors. As a case study, this research investigated four carnation houses as research subjects and came up with these following ideas about how to make improvements. First, the study found out that all the entrances did not have raised letters and that UD has not been satisfactorily applied to both the thresholds and the effective widths, and that is considered something to be fixed. Second, in case of regular rooms and living rooms, none of the rooms failed to have safety doorknobs which should have been installed and plus, thresholds and stepped pulleys need to be removed, Third, it goes the same with the kitchens, and the thresholds should be eliminated while cabinets are secured. In addition, furniture that understands the elderly's measurements should be used. Fourth, in terms of restrooms, they should be designed to be spacious enough not to cause anyone in wheelchairs inconvenience, and the study suggests that the effective widths should be widened and that both the safety doorknobs and the emergency calls must be installed. Basically, after the test on the UD adaptability, the study concluded that the application rates in connection with the adaptability were low which led the study to assume that such result has been gained due to the lack of installation standards in relation to the common living facilities of the elderly. The study now argues that purposes of buildings should be first clarified and then, these detailed space planning guidelines that deal with general characteristics of the aged people should be established.