Gwendoline Schaff has successfully defended her PhD thesis on August 20th, 2024 !
Her thesis, titled « Ageing well in place: towards multiple architectural approaches » aims to:
(i) identify the factors impacting on the “ageing well in place” of older people and future older people living in non-institutional housing;
(ii) understand how these factors of “ageing well in place” are reflected in the spatial features of the home;
(iii) understand how the architectural design process impacts on “ageing well in place”.
Through six specific studies, the thesis takes a multi-faceted look at the research issue, in particular : by interviewing various stakeholders (older people and future older people, architects and future architects, researchers and professionals working on housing and/or ageing, contracting authorities involved in housing projects for older people); using a variety of data collection methods (semi- structured interviews, focus groups, participant and non-participant observations, photo elicitation, walk-through of the homes, architectural design workshops, literature review); and taking place in a variety of study contexts (theoretical, professional experience, user experience, architectural design in educational environments, competitions and sketching phases).
The results of the various studies carried out highlight, first of all, a series of key themes that need to be addressed to support “ageing well in place”. The meanings and interrelationships of these themes, drawn from a variety of disciplines and highlighting the multiple home temporalities, are developed throughout the thesis. The results also explore the spatial translations of these themes in several dwellings, both individual and collective, as well as the emergence of dualities in the spatial issues to be resolved. Finally, the research dissects the architectural design processes of housing projects for older people, highlighting the contexts, dynamics, challenges and impacts of such developments.
Want to read more? Find Gwendoline’s publications here.
