A Basic Study on the Spatial Hierarchy Correlation between Apartment Complexes and Senior Citizen Centers

DOI:10.21742/JARR.2021.1.2.07

AUTHORS

Xiaolong Zhao,Graduate Student, Major of Interior Design, Department of Design, Sangmyung University, Cheonan, Korea

Heangwoo Lee*,Assistant Professor, Major of Space Design, College of Design, Sangmyung University, Cheonan, Korea

ABSTRACT

The need for research on elderly facilities outside of apartment complexes is growing because the senior citizen centers located inside apartment complexes are not enough to accommodate the rapidly increasing elderly population. However, most of the previous studies on senior citizen centers focused on the inner space design of these facilities, so they do not provide the basic data required to design senior citizen centers in the future. Also, the use of elderly community centers in large apartment complexes was reduced, which may be due to accessibility. Therefore, this study analyzed the accessibility and recognizability of senior citizen centers by analyzing the spatial hierarchy correlation between apartment complexes and senior citizen centers located outside these complexes. This study selected senior citizen centers near apartment complexes in a populated area and performed the research in four stages according to the following procedure to establish a spatial hierarchy correlation between brand apartment complexes and senior citizen centers located outside these complexes by applying space syntax methodology. First, the concept of senior citizen centers and space syntax was considered. Then, a total of four apartment complexes in Songpa-gu, Korea, and two senior citizen centers adjacent to each complex were selected for the analysis. The results are as follows. The senior citizen centers near the apartment complexes showed above average results in most of the indicators compared to the survey area. This means that the accessibility and recognizability of the senior citizen centers outside the apartment complexes were good. However, the index related to accessibility and recognizability inside the apartment complexes was relatively low, so senior citizen centers inside apartment complexes should be planned by considering the factors related to senior citizen centers outside these complexes in the future.