The idea of coming home to family has such strong emotional and psychological connotations. It’s timeless and is portrayed in many ways to create a feeling of safety, security, comfort, and belonging. A new look at multigenerational housing has us rethinking that experience.
In this video, John McManus, editorial director and vice president of the Residential Group at Hanley Wood, explores the discovery process of multigenerational living that was part of the 2018 BUILDER concept project, the reNEWable Living Home. Through the project BUILDER and Meritage Homes explored new ways to respond to this currently expanding demographic.
Through the project, Meritage Homes purposefully created a design with the intention to make housing better for people, more valuable, and more meaningful by leveraging the idea of family.
Many other industry experts, such as Ryan Frederick, the founder of SmartLiving 360, are exploring the benefits that multigenerational living and how exposure to living with more family benefits the home buyer. Frederick writes for his online blog:
Exciting things happen when a building becomes a community. People show interest in others’ and learning their personal stories. People start helping each other and invite others to become more involved in their lives. It can become contagious, getting more and more people desiring to be part of the community’s social fabric.
Frederick also points out that this sort of home structure benefits the residents emotionally. He reports that many older adults live alone—currently ¼ of men and ½ of women more than 75 years old live alone—and living alone has a very high correlation with loneliness. Multigenerational living can battle this because it's been said that strong personal connections and a sense of community can add up to 15 years to a lifespan. Meanwhile, other research shows that people with active social lives recover faster after an illness than those who are alone.
Howard Perlman, serves as the principal of Perlman Architects and is another expert and passionate leader in multigenerational floor plans. He produced the successful NextGen plan that Lennar has been selling across the country.
“When I was growing up, 80% of families were nuclear families,” Perlman says. “Now it’s more like 20%. Multigenerational living arrangements give single parents access to the best family care and in many cases the grandparents have more disposable income to take care of the children. Most good ideas make life easier, or more efficient in some way. A multigen design concept makes life more meaningful. That’s what’s so special about it. The bedrock of any culture is the family unit, and these homes are the ultimate family homes.”
The reNEWable Living Home study of multigenerational living was comprehensive to stretch the horizon of thinking surrounding this demographic. The ideas of these experts and many more are captured in this white paper from the reNEWable Living Home project, which you can download today. The home also will be on display in Orlando in January 2018. Register now to see the multigenerational design firsthand.
