La dimensione progettuale della flessibilità nelle abitazioni per anziani

Flexibility as a strategic dimension for architecture is a quite extensive and investigated topic. The flexible design is generally investigated focusing on the different architectural typologies and on general aspects such us forecasting on the change in use of architecture over the time. The topic of flexibility has been often declined according to the categories of users who inhabit the architecture and to the general change of needs based on the concepts of expansion and numerical restrictions of the families. Referring to the results of a previous research on the topic of flexibility that has led to the defi nition of four prevailing types of flexibility (functional, spatial, structural and technological-plant) and to three different forms of the same (project, work, system), the present contribution aim to investigate which types and forms of flexibility could become more relevant in homes for the elderly. The contribution focus on both the design solution for housing for the elderly and housing for people who ageing in place. The field of investigation focus on aging healthy population, not considering the peculiarities of possible pathologies typical of aging, but rather the recognized needs due to the progressive loss of the user’s sensory abilities. Through the theoretical classifi cation of flexible design and two examples of flexible architecture for the elderly this paper underline how flexible design meet the needs of living for the elderly and witch needs could be fulfill through it.