Punchlist

Gail Boger is an Associate, Project Manager/Architect with LRS Architects in their Portland, Oregon office. Keith Imper is the Strategic Marketing Lead for Charter Construction with office locations in both Seattle, WA & Portland, OR. Transcript Gail (00:01): LRS does senior living either from stand-alone memory cares to lifetime communities and everything in between. Keith (00:17): You're listening to Punch List, a very short podcast produced by Charter Construction. We'll speak with business partners, clients, and charter employees to gain the people perspective about what they do and why. Keith (00:35): I'm your host, Keith Imper. Last week, me and my colleague, Jeannie Crouch, caught up with architect Gail Boger of Portland based LRS Architects. We wanted to find out more about designing for senior living facilities, and we just knew she was going to be a great resource. Gail (01:11): I personally have been working in senior housing for 30 years, so I've seen a lot of changes in it. And my specialty right now is memory care because it's so interesting and so involved. Keith (01:26): Before speaking with Gail, I didn't realize everything that goes into designing a senior living facility. I was especially struck by the importance of light as we age, which turns out to be a key element in Gail's designs. Gail (01:45): As they eyes age, they come down with macular degeneration, glaucoma, hardening of the lens, yellowing of the lens, so what that does is it changes your perception of colors, that something that is dark blue, maroon, dark green, all just kind of looks brown. One of the things that we use and that our interiors uses is actually a yellow film, so when you lay out whatever you think looks really good, you put that in front of your eyes and see what it looks like. Keith (02:17): Since Gail's design focus is on memory care, I asked her about the impact of light on dementia and Alzheimer's patients, something that hits home for me personally. Gail (02:27): The Circadian rhythms are extremely important. They trigger your sleep cycle. And as they're finding out that it is during the time of sleep that your brain actually produces a fluid that comes in and cleans it out, cleans out the toxins. Some of those toxins are beta-amyloids, which have been found to contribute to Alzheimer's. So getting that light, getting that bright light, at the right times of day to help trigger those is just incredibly important. Gail (03:02): Then arguing too, as us, as architects, arguing to get the lighting in there, to get the windows in there and maybe [inaudible 00:03:11] lighting, which is possible now with LEDs, very popular, and you can mimic the light cycle throughout the day for the people that are not getting out, or you don't have that access to the windows. Keith (03:25): After our conversation with Gail, I was glad to know that people like her were thinking thoughtfully and caringly for those living in senior living facilities. At the end of the day, when we think about architecture, for me at least, what comes to mind are beautiful homes along the water or a striking performing arts center, but rarely do we consider the time and effort that architects put into senior living. So from all of us at Charter Construction, a big thank you to Gail and the entire team at LRS Architects. Keith (04:06): You've been listening to Punch List, a very short podcast produced by Charter Construction. And once again, thank you to Gail Boger.