Recreation is a prime factor to be considered in the development of housing for the elderly, and the Louis Josephson Apartments will offer a community room, covered patio, open terrace, and a landscaped outdoor recreation center for its residents. This drawing by Kramer, Hirsch & Carchidi of the rear of the proposed building on Oakland Street shows the covered patio opening from the community room, and a portion of the landscaped grounds.

A canopied main entrance lends a luxurious look to the Louis Josephson Apartments, but in reality the Trenton Housing Authority project is a low-budget development conforming in every detail to the code of the Public Housing Authority. The look of elegance is achieved by careful planning and the utilization of economical materials and construction methods.

HOUSING FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.

The public housing program has almost from its inception been a social enigma. Intended as a social environmental producing force it has become, instead, an antisocial producing jungle. Contrary to promoting neighborhood growth, it has promoted neighborhood decomposition. The major faults lie in their programing, their planning and perhaps most obvious of all, their design. Early to recognize the need for reforms and even refreshing new attitudes toward a more significant public housing program was the PHA's regional office in New York. Under the directorship of Herman Hillman, it is becoming a creative force in the shaping of a much improved social and physical environment. Spearheading a concentrated and coordinated housing program to provide not only better housing but also better community conditions, it means to enforce slum prevention in addition to its slum clearance program.

It has demonstrated its enlightened policy with the approval of the New Brunswick Housing for the Aged project. This radical departure from the "prisonlike" character of standard public housing design was the deliberate result of the understanding, persistence, and courage too, that the Authority and the architects shared. Frequent interchanges of recommendations and criticisms led to such design, planning, and structural innovations as a flexible apartment-size module, a staggered window pattern correlated with an expression of the slab at each floor to cause a more interesting facade, an integrated window and spandrel panel unit, and a cantilevered slab system. The intent was to achieve, most of all, housing that was human, friendly, and attractive. That such was accomplished was due only to the mutual cooperation of the regional office and the architects involved. In itself, the housing for the aged at New Brunswick is a case for the continuance of a national public housing

GENERAL DESIGN PROGRAM

This project, specifically designed for the aged, brings emphasis to the concept that the elderly should be physically separate yet socially an integrated part of the community.

The site, restricted in size, is immediately adjacent to a low-rent housing group of four 9-story apartment buildings recently completed.

In evolving a concept of living for the elderly in public housing, the architects strove: (1) to provide a quality and quantity of space that would yield a simple informal and pleasant mode of living that most housing developments seem to lack; and (2) to achieve an esthetic that would erase the stigma generally associated with public housing design.

PLAN ELEMENTS

Development of the concept is based on the living unit's central core, an efficient compact mechanical and storage hub. This identical nucleus lends itself readily to apartment size required.

The basic module is a one-bedroom unit. The combination of two modules can be readily converted into a zero- and two-bedroom unit by the closing of two soundproof doors or wall panels. This affords the ability of achieving flexibility in apartment size and distribution without additional construction or alteration, nor would there be any need to change the basic core.

The basic one-bedroom apartment is devoid of waste space, and all have crossventilation. The net floor areas are above PHA minimum and yet gross area is below PHA criteria. A tenant who is bedridden may be served efficiently from the kitchen, and one restricted to a wheelchair may navigate the unit with great ease.

GENERAL FEATURES

The building includes eight typical floors consisting of six 1-bedroom modules, and a floor of nine efficiency units. The upper ground floor level includes a spacious and brightly lighted lobby, a large community room containing a small kitchen unit, welfare officer facilities, and three additional efficiency units.

The building sits on a podium at this level which shall serve the community room as a protected outdoor walk and sitting area and provides access to the gardens surrounding the project. This parklike area was specially designed for the exclusive use of the elderly, creating for them a quiet and pleasant atmosphere to sit, walk, and enjoy recreational activities. It will be defined and protected from the surrounding neighborhood by pierced screen walls and heavy planting areas. Included, shall be a recreational area, shuffleboard, and a sitting area protected by a colorful canopy with integral lighting for use on warm evenings. The lower level includes entry from the adjacent parking area, storage, and mechanical equipment areas.

The circular corridor at the building core enables tenants to reach their apartment entrance regardless of the direction they take from the elevator and reduces the distance thereto.

Among the many safety features incorporated in the design of the structure there is the complete elimination of stairs to climb (except for the emergency fire stair). Tenants enter the building from a gently sloping walk. The core contains two self-service elevators (eliminating the need to use the stairs should one fail to operate). The central corridor will have a railing around its perimeter as an added feature specifically designed for the elderly. Bathrooms will contain grab bars at the tub and water closet. Fixtures are arranged on both walls so that a clear aisle along the tub will be accessible to tenants confined to wheelchairs. The bathrooms will have nonskid floors.

Other safety features in the apartment design include windows with sash projecting into room for washing purpose, which will eliminate the need to climb stools. Another design feature of the window prevents any possibility of falling out of the window.