This course is part of the Interiors Academy

Improved medical care, diet, and healthy living have benefitted our human species by steadily increasing our collective life expectancy. We are living longer, more active lives, with more independence and a greater opportunity to age in place. However, with a growing population, new challenges and considerations must be addressed to provide a supportive and healthy living space. Older adults often suffer from declining vision and an increased respiratory sensitivity to environmental influences like pollen, dust, and VOC’s. These vulnerabilities can be addressed through the thoughtful specification of paints and finishes that leverage appropriate colors, are durable, easy to clean, and contain low to no VOC’s.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

In this image, the light color of the moulding and baseboard contrast with the darker tone of the wall to provide easy visual definition of the room's layout.

AGING IN PLACE AND THE SCIENCE OF LOW-VISION DESIGN

According to the World Health Organization, by 2050, the global population aged 60 and over is expected to total two billion, nearly double what it was in 2015.

In fact, the 74 million Baby Boomers living in the U.S. will be 65 or older in less than 10 years. The most senior among them will be on the cusp of 85. Even sooner, by 2025, the number of seniors (65 million) is expected to surpass that of children aged 13 and under (58 million) for the first time. What does this have to do with architecture and design? As it turns out: A lot.

This demographic shift will impact obvious systems, such as health care. But it also presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for architects, designers, and policymakers. The current number of skilled nursing facilities don’t have the capacity to handle the shift, which means there will be a need for more space. But the Baby Boomers also represent a culture shift: For many of them, how they age—and where—has become a big topic of conversation. Many of them want to stay where they are and age in place.

"Aging in place," as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a term that describes the ability of individuals to live in their own homes and communities safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age or ability level. The demographic shift has given rise to a strong desire among older adults to continue living independently in their own homes and communities. In March 2023, U.S. News & World Report conducted a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults aged 55 and older to explore how they are embracing aging in place. The survey revealed a resounding consensus among older adults, with a striking 93% of respondents expressing their belief that aging in place is an essential goal.

The overwhelming support for aging in place highlights a deep-rooted desire of people to maintain their autonomy and stay connected to their familiar surroundings. This trend has led to a focus on home automation, medical monitoring, telehealth, and other in-home technologies. But aging in place also requires elements of design suited to the aging process – and that is something architects and interior designers can help occupants imagine and implement.

In this article, we'll explore how the choice of colors and finishes in architectural design can significantly impact the quality of life for an aging population. We will hear from experts working on the cutting edge of this field, including Eunice Noell-Waggoner from the Center of Design for an Aging Society, Ramesh Gulatee of LifeCare Design Studio, and Brian J. Pape of the American Institute of Architects NY Design for Aging Committee.

Designers who understand the science of color and light—and how aging eyes respond to their surroundings – can communicate these concepts to their clients and help them conceive a design that supports their health and well-being. Designers will be able to specify color and finishes for contrast, wayfinding, safety, and emotional well-being. Just as important is the discussion of universal design and the ways in which creating age-friendly environments—not just in the home, but in health care, hospitality, and commercial spaces—creates community, and offers accessible space for all ages and abilities.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

The darker color of a cabinet sink helps create definition in a light and airy bathroom, offering an element of wayfinding for the occupant.

How Our Eyes and Brains See Color

Color is a fundamental aspect of our visual experience, and it plays a crucial role in our perception of the world around us. Whether it's the vibrant hues of a sunset or the subtleties of a painting, our ability to see and process color is a remarkable feat of biology. There is also a fascinating relationship between color and light, which we can explore by examining the basic biology of the human eye and the brain's role in interpreting the information it receives.

The human eye can be likened to a sophisticated camera. It all begins with the transparent cornea, which allows light to enter. The iris acts as the eye’s aperture, controlling the amount of light that passes through the pupil. Working in tandem, the cornea and lens focus the incoming light onto the retina, situated at the rear of the eye. Comparable to the film in a camera, the retina is the critical component responsible for converting light into signals that our brain can comprehend. The retina is lined with two types of light-sensitive receptors: rods and cones. These photoreceptors are akin to the pixels in a digital camera sensor, capturing the visual information we perceive.

Rods and cones are not created equal when it comes to vision. The human eye boasts approximately 125 million rods and 7 million cones, with each type playing a distinct role. Rods are photoreceptors that excel at perceiving light and dark, making them particularly crucial for night vision. Their sensitivity to dim light and ability to detect motion make them our allies in low-light conditions. If rods are the heroes of night vision, cones are the champions of color vision. The human eye houses three types of cones, each sensitive to different ranges of wavelengths: red, green, and blue. These cones are concentrated in a small pit at the back of the eye known as the fovea, where we perceive sharpness and detail.

The colors of the objects we see are intricately linked to how these objects interact with light. When light illuminates an object, it may absorb certain wavelengths while reflecting or transmitting others. Our eyes perceive the color of an object based on the wavelengths of light that reach our retinas and stimulate the appropriate cones. Consider the example of a yellow object. If this object transmits green and red wavelengths, it will stimulate the green and red cones in our retinas, leading us to perceive the object as yellow.

The way we perceive and process color is a marvel of biology and neuroscience. But what happens as we age? What does a room of light and color look like to a person with low vision, and how do designers calibrate their knowledge of color and light to encompass a more universal experience?

Understanding the Low-Vision Experience

Low vision is a term used to describe a condition where an individual's vision cannot be corrected to a functional level, typically falling below 20/70 even with standard corrective measures such as glasses, contacts, surgery, or medications. In the United States alone, a significant portion of the population deals with low vision, and that number is expected to grow as the population ages.

Low vision encompasses a broad range of visual impairments, including media opacities, macular dystrophies and degenerations, peripheral retinal degenerations, optic nerve anomalies, and damage to the visual cortex or the brain itself. While the causes may vary, the challenges presented by low vision are consistent—compromised visual acuity, reduced contrast sensitivity, and limited field of vision. One of the most prevalent low vision conditions among aging populations is age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In the U.S., AMD is the leading cause of blindness in individuals over the age of 65. Unlike complete blindness, individuals with AMD often retain their peripheral vision and mobility.

But even without diagnosed low-vision conditions, the process of aging changes the way people see. As people age, their visual capabilities undergo a series of transformations, particularly affecting their ability to discriminate between colors. This age-related shift in color perception, primarily attributed to the yellowing and thickening of the crystalline lens in the eye, has substantial consequences for how older adults perceive their surroundings. These changes are most pronounced in the less saturated colors, such as green, blue, and violet, as the aging lens blocks shorter wavelengths of color from reaching the optic nerves.

Visual challenges associated with aging, including diminished visual acuity and reduced color discrimination accuracy, typically manifest around the age of 40, with a rapid decline after 60 years of age. The lens's darkening or yellowing filters out short blue-violet visible light, further impeding color vision in the shorter (blue) wavelengths. Colors are perceived as less vivid in general, indicating that highly saturated colors appear paler to older individuals.

In an era marked by a rapidly aging population, architects and interior designers face an increasingly critical challenge: creating spaces that accommodate the evolving needs of older adults. The interplay between light, color, and visual perception is a pivotal consideration in this context, because it significantly impacts how older people experience their environments. Designers need to select their design elements in a holistic manner, taking into account pattern, texture, color contrast, value contrast, and sheen—and understanding how these elements work together.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

Each element of this room is distinctive because the dark blue and light blue-green walls provide contrast, while the light interplays with the white fireplace, chairs, and rugs.

Color Preference and Age-Related Changes

Understanding color preference is an important aspect of designing for older adults. While color preference does depend on the individual, studies have shown that blue is consistently the most preferred color across various age groups, followed by green, red, violet, orange, and yellow. One significant aspect of color preference, however, is that it tends to shift with age. Older adults may exhibit a decreased preference for blue and an increased preference for red and green. These shifts can be attributed to age-related issues in color discrimination, mainly due to the yellowing of the lens in the aging eye.

Research has also indicated that as individuals age, errors in color judgment become more frequent, especially at lower levels of saturation. This means that older adults struggle to distinguish subtle variations in color saturation. One study emphasized the importance of avoiding low-saturation blue since older individuals perceive such colors differently, often as gray, potentially creating a confusing and hazardous environment. In low saturation, the colors that received the highest ratings for visual contrast were purple and red. When considering purple for spaces occupied by older people, choose a shade with more of a red base rather than a pure purple to ensure its effectiveness.