June 17, 2020
Prefabricated smart homes for seniors in rural Alberta communities
CALGARY -- They鈥檙e called FABhomes and were designed by John Brown the Dean of Architecture at the 草莓污视频导航. His idea has taken about four years to become reality and now the town of Bassano, Alta. will be the first to get them for its aging population.
鈥淎 FABhome is a bridge between an individual's home and and the care home,鈥 said Brown. 鈥淲e鈥檙e extending through an assisted independent living the ability for them to remain in the community.鈥
The prefabricated homes are about the size of a one bedroom apartment at 54 square metres (580 square feet). But they鈥檙e smart with a digital support system built right in that has behavioural monitoring.聽 Brown compares the finished units to a medical device.
鈥淲e have a floor that we鈥檝e put in, a compliant floor system, that reduces the injury that comes from a fall by about 70 per cent,鈥 said Brown. 鈥淲e have sit stand counters in the bathroom and the kitchen so you can adjust the height of the work surface to your needs.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 predictive of potential problems so that鈥檚 one of the advantages of the technology that he鈥檚 using,鈥 said Bassano mayor Ron Wickson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way of telling us before something happens that something is happening.鈥
Wickson has seven FABhomes on order. He says the town will be the first rural community to have the homes. He鈥檚 planning for them to be installed near the community centre because he says it鈥檚 under utilized.
鈥淲e think that this would be a better way of making some more use of it and really add to the flavour of the village by having a meeting room and a few out door amenities,鈥 said Wickson.
Brown says it鈥檚 hard to calculate an exact price of a unit because rural communities have various options on models and lease or purchase plans to make them affordable.
鈥淛ust because we鈥檝e gotten old and frail doesn鈥檛 mean we need to live in something that looks like a hospital,鈥 said Brown. 鈥淚t needs to provide those supports but it needs to do it seamlessly in a way that you don鈥檛 even notice.鈥
Learn more about FABhome here:聽聽