ASID to Examine Design Issues for an Aging America

– Recognizing that the majority of Americans want to remain in their homes as they age, the American Society of Interior Designers has established a volunteer council of noted experts to look at how design solutions can enhance and support residents throughout the life span. The council will draw upon its vast experience and networks of professionals to provide the ASID board of directors with recommendations on information, research and education efforts that the Society should undertake to better prepare designers and consumers to meet the challenges that come with the normal process of aging. 

“It is inevitable that we will all age,” says council member Leslie Shankman-Cohn, ASID, an award-winning designer from Memphis, TN. “Whether we do so gracefully or otherwise, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and to ‘age in style.’ We should not be isolated from the day-to-day activities that make our lives worthwhile. It is essential that designers continue to learn all they can about age-related changes and social and psychological needs to create better environments for older adults. It is equally as important to look beyond the immediate needs of one sector of the population and provide a smooth transition for living needs throughout one’s life and physical abilities.”

Council members come from a variety of backgrounds and practices. Collectively, they cover a broad spectrum of experience and expertise in designing interior spaces for older persons. Says nationally recognized independent living specialist and council member Louis Tenenbaum, “The opportunity to work with this group of dedicated and talented professionals to solve the critical problem of housing and care for the growing population of older citizens was not something I could pass up.”

The members of the ASID Aging in Place Council are as follows:

Truth Camina, ASID; Drue Ellen Lawlor, FASID; Patricia Rowen, ASID, CAPS; Leslie Shankman-Cohn, ASID; Rebecca Stahr, ASID, CAPS, CSP; and Louis Tenenbaum, one of the nation’s leading authorities on aging in place.

For more information about designing for aging-in-place, visit the Aging in PlaceResourceCenter on the ASID Web site at www.asid.org.ASID is a community of people—designers, industry representatives, educators and students—committed to interior design. Through education, knowledge sharing, advocacy, community building and outreach, the Society strives to advance the interior design profession and, in the process, to demonstrate and celebrate the power of design to positively change people’s lives. Its more than 38,000 members engage in a variety of professional programs and activities through a network of 48 chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more about ASID, visit www.asid.org.