Senior living design is on the verge of big change. If you’re developing senior living, active adult communities, or any other retirement spaces, you need the 411 on today’s 55-and-up. From technology and wellness to comfort and amenities, today’s seniors have high hopes for their quality of life — as they should!
What that means for you, as a developer, is this: The bar has been raised. Seniors — and their families — have high expectations for their living arrangements.
Up for the challenge? Banko Design will help you match those needs with bold, top-notch senior living interior design built to last. Read on to learn how, together, we can serve seniors and their families by giving them what they want and more.
Today’s seniors and what makes them different
Let’s talk baby boomers… aka, today’s seniors. Baby boomers are entering the senior living market and have already begun the search for the perfect retirement community for themselves, their parents, or other aging relatives. This is your target market, so it’s our target market. (Your customers are our customers, your house is our house. You catch the drift).
These seniors have a new set of needs and wants. This is the first generation that has spent a few decades immersed in a world of technology. They’ve experienced wellness in new and countless ways. They’re looking for cleanability, durability, and a wellness experience that supports them physically, mentally, and socially. They’re also looking for a resort-style experience with thoughtful amenities and gathering spaces, plus concierge services to aid them.
With Banko Design, the amenities of multifamily interior design meet senior living and care — making the aging process seamless and giving seniors the amenities they desire and the care they need.
You, as a developer, have a mighty mission to serve the needs of this aging population. Interior design for senior living needs to bring wellness, comfort, and community together. You need senior living design experts who spark joy and create impact, while also focusing on functionality for your target market. That’s us. Banko Design is resident-first and ready to go.
What your senior living interior design needs to accomplish
Everything you do comes back to the way you live. *Gestures grandly*
As seniors age, quality of life takes on a new meaning. When folks move into senior living, they step into the next season of life. No matter what the transition looks like for them, whether they’re entering independent living, assisted living, or memory care communities, they should feel at home.
That means the couch they sit on during Bingo Night, the comfort of their chair when they sip coffee with friends, and how easily they can move around their unit and community. It’s considering transit times from their unit to the primary amenities and creating purposeful areas to rest or congregate along the way.
Senior living developers have to make inviting spaces that address big needs. Senior living design encompasses assisted living design, independent living design, and memory care design, all of which come with their own set of operational and functional needs for residents and staff. Banko Design helps you tailor your designs to your development — like finding ways to cleverly hide your assisted living mobility accommodations or carving out special recreational spaces to put the “independent” in your independent living design.
Today, seniors and their caregivers have a lot of options. The way to win them over? Interior design that brings them comfort, wellness, community, and resort-level amenities.
Empowering wellness for seniors
Well, well, well. It’s no surprise that wellness and health are at the forefront of seniors’ minds these days. Today’s seniors want to be active, mentally healthy, social, and close to their families.
Banko Design creates spaces that empower wellness — and we’re revolutionizing wellness for seniors as a whole. We recognize that seniors are much more “with the times” these days. Their taste is premium but accessible — so we create spaces that are sophisticated and elegant, never stuffy or dated. They want to live a modern life, so we keep our designs fresh and contemporary yet timeless with a whole lot of WOW. They know and use technology, and we incorporate that into the design.
Banko Design is up to speed on the latest trends, but we also know how to create spaces that have longevity in the market. As a developer, you’ll have long-lasting designs that don’t end up dated before your CDs are issued.
Creating comfort all around
Comfort is a no-brainer no matter who you’re designing for. Backless, stiff chairs? Get out of here. With seniors, comfort takes on a new definition. Even though our upcoming wave of baby boomer seniors will be more social and active, they’ll still spend a good amount of time in the community’s living and dining spaces. Comfort is key.
Furniture can make or break the comfort of a space. It needs to be thoughtfully curated to support proportions and mobility (no super-low chairs, here!). With functionality for seniors in mind, Banko Design has created a bespoke furniture line, BD Collection for Fairfield.
We couldn’t find it in the market — so we built it. We designed furniture pieces that are residential in style but commercial in durability and functionality. Thoughtfully designed for seniors, you’ll see that the arms and chair grips are larger and the seats are wider and taller — perfectly proportioned to support the stability and mobility of aging residents. Each piece in the Fairfield collection comes in a wide variety of fabrics and finishes to fit the design aesthetic of your community.
At Banko, we design for comfort for two parties — your residents and your staff. Communal spaces need to be functional, navigable, and aesthetic for your seniors. At the same time, your space needs to support the operational needs of your staff. In the early stages of our design process, we’ll get an understanding of a typical day for your residents and staff so we can make your space comfy, cozy, and functional.
Building a community that matters
Everyone needs social time to feel happy, healthy, and fulfilled. It’s especially important for aging seniors who have just gone through a big life transition. As a developer, your design plan should make community-building effortless — for your senior clientele and your staff. The interior design can support your operations team in fostering community within the property.
We design with the building in mind. How will residents move around? Where can we create a central spot to encourage meet-and-greets? Can we make a recreational room for painting lessons and game nights? The senior living community you develop is about to become someone’s new home. How can you serve seniors with a stunning design that makes their building feel like a real community? How can you dignify seniors through the programming and design of the buildings? That’s our job, and we own it proudly.
Level up your senior living design with Banko
We’re not just here for high-end design and top-notch space-making. We’re here for that, but we’re also here to drive change and advocate for the aging generation and their caregivers. Banko’s design approach is resident-first and resi-mmercial. Always. We create spaces that are residential in style — timeless, inviting spaces that feel like home — while also specifying commercial-grade materials that perform over time.
New construction, renovation, and FF&E refresh projects = our specialties. Our command of budgets and schedules means that, together, we can curate thoughtful designs that are delivered on-time and guarantee longevity in the market. (Meaning, irresistible interiors for your target resident for years to come.) Bonus: Our procurement agency is in-house, so we’ll work with you from the initial design concept to final furniture installation when it’s go time.
Ready to take the next step? Set up a phone chat with Banko — and let the designing begin.
Email business_development@bankodesign.com to get started on your next senior living project.
Keywords: interior design services, best interior design firm, independent living, assisted living, multifamily interior design, senior living design, senior living, best interior design firms, retirement living, senior living interior design, interior design for senior living
Graduating with my interior design degree wasn’t the start of a glamorous design career – I worked my ass off. In my jobs after I graduated, I stayed at the office until midnight most nights. I was a young mom – I actually got pregnant with my daughter my first year of art school – and my husband would drop her off at the office at eight o’clock at night on his way to work. She would sleep under my desk until I finished my day. The phrase “work from home” didn’t exist at the time, and no grace was given to working mothers. When I had my second child, I had to breastfeed in a storage closet because there was no dedicated mother’s area and no flexibility in my schedule to be with a newborn at home.
What started in a spare bedroom in my starter home has grown so much over the past 9 years – not only into a thriving interior design business, but has also expanded to include a 
