The Ridge Senior Living Makes Memories a Key to Challenged Seniors

StudioSIX5 is an architectural and product design firm that specializes in senior living. And on an almost 3-acre, picturesque site in Salt Lake City, the company brought together design ideas and products that make living for this cohort enjoyable and safe.

At The Ridge Senior Living, the firm incorporated the sharp angles and asymmetry of the surrounding Wasatch Range into the building’s exterior and interior architecture to help make it come alive. Amenities were placed toward the front of the building for the best views via large windows and high ceilings that slope up in the common area from 16 feet to 19 feet 6 inches. The asymmetrical theme was carried out to mirror the mountain ridge in the choice of carpet design, light fixtures, and even floor tiles. A mix of warm woods and natural stones soften the contemporary colors and metallics.

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Because the building houses a mix of residents with different health challenges, special features and amenities cater to all. Memory-care rooms in a separate wing feature digital memory boxes—a product the architects developed and placed outside doors to help residents find their rooms. The boxes’ content can be customized by caregivers to include family photos, favorite places, quotes, and the like. The public shared areas for these patients also include tactile art that helps increase engagement. And the building is part of a national research initiative focused on benefits that residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia gain from listening to personalized music through the “Music and Memory” website (https://musicandmemory.org).

For more worry-free living, there are concierge services such as daily tidying, a front desk that acts as a welcome station, and various activities, from watching films to exercising, playing games, and enjoying meals with offerings that suit different dietary restrictions. Because of the site’s small size, parking was placed beneath the main level.