HED announced last week the completion of the Silver Birch of Fort Wayne, Ind., an affordable 119-unit senior-living community. The new assisted-living facility provides studio and one-bedroom residences for older adults in need of supportive housing.
Silver Birch Fort Wayne is the eighth facility opened by Silver Birch Living, a senior-housing organization under the Chicago-based Vermillion Development team. This particular community spans more than 97,000 square feet across four floors in one combined facility.
The Vermilion development team established early the design goal of creating a “resort-like” lifestyle community at Silver Birch Fort Wayne, given its adjacency to a beautiful golf course and its well-forested site. The golf course was recently purchased by a nearby university and is also soon to be repurposed as a fitness center.
In this same resort-like aesthetic, the team sought to create a building that felt broken down into smaller volumes, so as to help both residents and visitors more easily feel at home in the space. This strategy also helps with wayfinding for seniors struggling with memory challenges. The resulting plan, a z-like shape, placed amenity spaces in a well-featured central ‘bar’ allowing the two residential wings to have easy, shorter access to these shared spaces.
Given the site’s naturally wooded condition, the team sought to protect the environment and minimize its impact on the landscape. As such, the design was crafted with a careful attention to the existing high-quality trees on the site. Any trees that did have to be removed were reused within the project, creating beautiful interior features as well. The interior design for the project was planned by HED and executed by Chicago-based Strong Design Consultants.
“The client wanted the building to be visible from a nearby highway, so the entry canopy was designed to help achieve that visibility. In addition, it allowed us to orient the building’s site plan in such a way as to create a beautiful, courtyard-like backside rich with outdoor living amenities and natural, forested views,” said Cory Kamholz, HED’s design leader for the project.
A second project for HED with the Vermilion Development team, HED had a strong understanding of their business model and affordability goals from the project’s launch. Susan King, HED’s Principal in charge is delighted to have delivered another quality project for the client and the Fort Wayne community.
“We have enjoyed working with HED’s housing design team in the creation of this place. From the get-go, they understood our aim to provide an affordable housing option for seniors in the Northeast Indiana area while also identifying creative design solutions based on our operational plans. The result is a comfortable, contemporary and complete home for our residents,” said Darrin Jolas, Managing Director of Vermilion Development.
ABOUT HED Founded in 1908, HED seeks creative solutions that have a positive impact for its clients, the community, and the world. HED has earned a reputation for excellence in all facets of design, including architecture, consulting, engineering and planning services. The 300+-person firm serves clients in a broad range of market sectors including Healthcare, Workplace, Housing, Mixed-Use, Science + Technology, Higher Education and Pre K-12 + Community Education from offices in six U.S. locations. See how HED advances your world at hed.design.
ABOUT SILVER BIRCH Silver Birch is a growing family of premier affordable assisted living communities that promote wellness, convenience, and community. With now, 8 newly constructed and open communities in Indiana and 1 more due to open between 2019-2020. We help older adults live an inspired and purposeful life no matter their financial situation. We have designed a community that makes high quality assisted living affordable. Qualified individuals can receive government support for Silver Birch services. More information can be found at www.silverbirchliving.com.
