Antara Senior Living

Too often design for seniors has been restricted to barrier-free access. But at Antara, the country s one of its kind senior living facility at Dehradun, several small design interventions have been implemented to improve the quality of life of its residents, including not just universal access, and not only targeted lighting design. The IESNA Lighting Handbook lays down separate lighting level requirements for users aged 65 and above, for each application / purpose. The handbook was to be our guide through the entire process ensuring that spaces were adequately lit - not under and just as importantly not over. For the first time, the lighting concept presentation talked not only about horizontal and vertical illuminance but also covered the dangers of glossy reflective flooring, the importance of window dressings and the need for more artificial lighting during daylight hours! The apartments on campus, provide an even illumination and have been designed to allow for simple but efficient rotary dimming of the cove lighting - providing personalization without complicated lighting controls. The public spaces are enhanced through generous table, floor and suspended lamps providing soft, volumetric lighting - the downlights only for accent and emphasis of elements and not so much for general lighting of the space. The exterior lighting features, surprisingly, luminaires mounted on the external walls of the apartments that don’t light the facade but in fact serve to create a pool of light around the building at the ground level. This was necessary to extend the view to the outside but in doing so create a sense of security, safety and well-being . For ageing eyes Many such small, often surprising interventions in the lighting, selection of