From aged care homes and retirement villages to……what?
What will living look like as a person aged over 65 in 2050?
Longevity by Design is a charrette* that was held in Brisbane on 6 February 2020. A joint initiative of The University of Queensland ‘s Healthy Ageing Initiative and DMA Engineers, with support from event partners Paynters and Redland City Council, the charrette brought together 121 people from more than 60 private and community-based organisations, government bodies and educational institutions to challenge the way we currently design communities and buildings for life in later years.
Facilitated by Dr Rosemary Kennedy, 16 teams took on a design challenge set in the Redlands. They had a choice of three sites to work on – Victoria Point, Mt Cotton and the Southern Moreton Bay Islands – where they were challenged to create visionary, innovative and highly connected design to meet the needs of future seniors in 2050.
*A charrette is a workshop devoted to solving a design challenge around a particular topic or situation. It is a collaboration to generate ideas and innovative thinking.
Longevity by Design featured two main events:
The Charrette
Thursday 6 February 2020
7.30am to 5.30pm
Facilitated by Dr Rosemary Kennedy, teams will take on a senior living innovation design challenge set in the Redlands. Teams will have a choice of three sites to work on, where they will be challenged to create visionary, innovative and highly connected design to meet the needs of future seniors in 2050.
Throughout the day, teams will be inspired and challenged by a series of provocateurs. A pitch coach will help teams prepare for their pitch at the breakfast event on 27 February. At 5:30pm, we will end the day with networking (and celebratory!) drinks.
The Final Pitch
Thursday 27 February 2020
7:15am-9am
Each team will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas in an open forum to an audience of industry professionals, educators, and government, community and design leaders interested in this important topic.
The Pitches
Each team had just 3 minutes to pitch their ideas on the future of senior living design for the Redlands. Here are the video recordings of their pitches, as well as details of which pitches won awards.
Team 1
Team 2 ‘LUCY’
Winner: People’s Choice Award
Team 3 ‘Create Macleay!’
Joint winner: UQ Healthy Ageing Initiative Award
Team 4 ‘Heart of the Bay’
Team 5 ‘Redzone’
Team 6 ‘The Bay Islanders’ pitch
Joint winner: UQ Healthy Ageing Initiative Award
Team 7
Team 8 ‘Infin8’
Winner: Redland City Council Award
Joint Runner-up: People’s Choice Award
Joint Winner: UQ Healthy Ageing Initiative Award
Team 9 ‘Mt Cotton Collective’
Team 10 ‘Tek Trak’
Joint Runner-up: People’s Choice Award
Team 11 ‘Community Oriented Development’
Team 12 ‘The Good Life’
Joint Winner: UQ Healthy Ageing Initiative Award
Team 13 ‘Organic Cotton’
Team 14 ‘Cottee Parker’
Joint Winner: UQ Healthy Ageing Initiative Award
Runner-up: Redland City Council Award
Team 15 ‘Living Connections’
Team 16 did not participate in the pitch,
but team member John Cameron published
Our Facilitator
Our charrette facilitator was Dr Rosemary Kennedy F.R.A.I.A.
Rosemary leads the SubTropical Cities Consultancy and Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture at QUT. She is focussed on creating climatically-responsive cities, places and buildings for a liveable and just future through strategic design, research and transdisciplinary collaboration and has published more than 60 journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and proceedings, including the influential publication Subtropical Design in South East Queensland, a Handbook for Planners, Developers and Decision Makers. She is a Fellow of the AIA and is currently an elected member of the AIA’s Queensland Chapter Council. She chairs a Working Group to promote high quality high density housing standards and design guidelines.
Teams heard from the following provocateurs:
Professor Laurie Buys
Leader of the University of Queensland Healthy Ageing Initiative.
Why the old model has had its day, and why we should rethink ’65’.
Everald Compton
Chairman of Longevity Alliance Australia,
and Founder of National Seniors Australia.
The benefit of hindsight and foresight.
Professor John Mangan
Professor of Economics
The longevity economy.
Dr. Bridget Burdett
Principal Researcher, MRCagney.
Transport, Mobility, Social Factors, Inclusion.
The Judging Panel
At the team pitching breakfast on 27 February, teams had just 3 minutes to pitch their ideas for the future of senior living design to our expert panel. They were vying for the following awards:
- The UQ Healthy Ageing Initiative Award/s, which included the opportunity to work with the team from the HAI to have their work published.
- The Redland City Council Award, which included the opportunity to present their ideas to a group of experts and practioners at a future Redland City Council health care and social assistance forum.
- The People’s Choice Award for the idea voted as the most innovative and impactful by all event attendees on the day.
We have put together the following amazing panel of experts who provided feedback and commentary on the pitches, and awarded the Redland City Council Award:
Marcus Riley: CEO, Ballycara
Jason Eldering: CEO, Southern Cross Care Queensland
Andrew Chesterman: CEO, Redland City Council
Dr Scott Bourke: Director, Innovation & City Transformation, Logan City Council
Dyan Currie: Chief Planner, Brisbane City Counci
James Mantis: General Manager – Property Development & Asset Management, Bolton Clarke
Lauren Ffrost: General Manager, South Melbourne Communities, Australian Unity.
Event Founders
At DMA, we think it’s the things you don’t see that matter.
Like the inner workings of an office building, the lighting at your favourite art gallery, the air conditioning that helps keep you comfortable when you go to hospital, or the plumbing at your local shopping centre. This inner beauty is what keeps our communities, homes and workplaces ticking, and helps our days go more smoothly.
This is what our team of mechanical, electrical, fire, hydraulic and vertical transport engineers work to create every day with a commitment to delivery, reliability and finding new ideas to solve old problems remains the same.
It’s a commitment we share with our clients – clients who trust us to help them optimise the usability and efficiency of their buildings. Clients who, like us, are part of the cities and communities that need us to make things work beautifully, too.
Which is why at DMA Engineers we always strive to create inner beauty.
UQ is a research-intensive institution in the top 50 universities world-wide, offering choice and opportunity in undergraduate and postgraduate learning.
The HaBs Faculty Healthy Ageing Initiative is a developing network designed to build a community of practice around healthy ageing, incorporating research, research training, curriculum development, student activities, and community engagement.
In line with Faculty strengths in research, teaching and engagement, this initiative focuses on applied aspects of healthy ageing, with four major themes:
- understanding and managing the transitions of ageing
- interventions and health service design for chronic illness, disability, and rehabilitation
- strategies to achieve the goal of living well in older age
- development and use of digital technologies to make health-related services and information widely accessible to all regardless of age or capacity.
Event Partners
At Paynters we’ve built a reputation on a foundation of respect and partnership with our clients. To be sure, our comprehensive end-to-end design and construction project solutions gives a proven assurance of meeting our clients’ needs, but it’s through a collaborative partnership that we’re able to consistently exceed expectations.
Paynters is a proven leader in full-scope building solutions, and we continue to shape the growth and development of Queensland’s Residential Aged Care, Government and Insurance sectors.
Paynters has been awarded Queensland Master Builders awards on numerous projects, regularly taking out regional and state categories. We have a proven ability to inject innovative creativity in order to deliver successful building projects in market sectors such as Health, Residential Aged Care, Social Housing, Education, Insurance, Hospitality, Industrial and more. However, it is the fact that so many of our clients stay with us for decades through dozens of projects that is the true testament to our success and your assurance of a trusted partner.
Redland City Council is the local government authority for the Redlands, which includes the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, North Stradbroke Island and the mainland from Redland Bay in the south, to Capalaba in the west and Thorneside to the north.
The Redlands is known for its relaxed coastal lifestyle, strong community values and outstanding cultural and natural attractions. Our vision is to maintain and enrich the enviable lifestyle we enjoy in this beautiful city.
Our vision for Redland City has eight key outcomes:
- Healthy natural environment
- Green living
- Embracing the bay
- Quandamooka Country
- Wise planning and design
- Supportive vibrant economy
- Strong and connected communities
- Inclusive and ethical governance