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Episode Synopsis "Senior Living with Portland's LRS Architects"
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. TranscriptGail (00:01):LRS does senior living either from stand-alone memory cares to lifetime communities and everything inbetween. Keith (00:17):You're listening to Punch List, a very short podcast produced by Charter Construction. We'll speak withbusiness partners, clients, and charter employees to gain the people perspective about what they doand why.Keith (00:35):I'm your host, Keith Imper. Last week, me and my colleague, Jeannie Crouch, caught up with architectGail Boger of Portland based LRS Architects. We wanted to find out more about designing for seniorliving 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 myspecialty 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 wasespecially struck by the importance of light as we age, which turns out to be a key element in Gail'sdesigns.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 isdark blue, maroon, dark green, all just kind of looks brown. One of the things that we use and that ourinteriors uses is actually a yellow film, so when you lay out whatever you think looks really good, you putthat 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 andAlzheimer'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 outthat it is during the time of sleep that your brain actually produces a fluid that comes in and cleans itout, cleans out the toxins. Some of those toxins are beta-amyloids, which have been found to contributeto Alzheimer's. So getting that light, getting that bright light, at the right times of day to help triggerthose 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 thereand 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 thataccess to the windows.Keith (03:25):After our conversation with Gail, I was glad to know that people like her were thinking thoughtfully andcaringly for those living in senior living facilities. At the end of the day, when we think aboutarchitecture, for me at least, what comes to mind are beautiful homes along the water or a strikingperforming arts center, but rarely do we consider the time and effort that architects put into seniorliving. So from all of us at Charter Construction, a big thank you to Gail and the entire team at LRSArchitects.Keith (04:06):You've been listening to Punch List, a very short podcast produced by Charter Construction. And onceagain, thank you to Gail Boger.
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