Housing Life Cycle Project
This week in Interior Design we learned about the housing needs which also includes the physical and psychological needs of people or families of different ages. The physical aspects a house needs to meet are to have a sense of love & belonging, privacy, creativity and identity. On the physical side we all need a home with safety, storage, shelter, a place to sleep and an area for food preparation. For the determination on generally what type of age group lives in what kind of home, we use the term "life cycle" to help with that. A "life cycle" are the stages of life from infancy to old age. For example, a young adult would generally live in an apartment considering they are just starting out in the real world. A young family that is just staring out would go more into a "starter" home with more space and a more livable, comfortable home to start a family in. The launching age, where it is about time to send off the children to college or elsewhere, would typically go towards downsizing a little bit for the reason that they don't need as much living space anymore. Down sizing doesn't mean it cant be an upgrade in the sense that it could be a more expensive home to fulfill your expensive taste, just smaller to make it easier. But it can also mean a time to upgrade to a bigger house if its your style. The final stage are the empty nesters. In this stage you might see yourself downsizing highly to make it easier on yourself. Depending on age and abilities of oneself it could be an assisted living home or even a nursing home.
At the age of 22, something cheap and smaller is the way to start out a young life.
An apartment like this would be the perfect place for me to get started in the real world. My personal needs could all be met with a simple, cheap but nice complex near a Texas city. A place like this one showed is realistic if I had a steady job.
Once I get to the age of 33 and have a family to provide space for, I would need an upgrade from an apartment but not get crazy with my houses yet.
A great family home to me would be one like this. Its smaller but big enough to house a family and stay safe in a Texas neighborhood full of other young families close by. By this time I would have upgraded jobs and also have a wife to help with money.That would make this a very realistic house to purchase for a family.
At the age of 42, my kids will have most likely be almost ready to be on their way to the real world and be moving out of the house with maybe another still a young teenager. This means I will be able to purchase a bigger home to satisfy my style not having to worry about a family friendly home lifestyle as much as I did when toddlers were in the picture.
A big home like this would satisfy my needs because at a middle age like 42, I think at that point an extravagant home is a must. It makes you feel powerful and can fulfill what you want. Though a house like this would be very expensive, a couple with a well paying job could afford this home in a very nice Texas neighborhood.
72 is around the age it is time to down size on your home. As you get older you never need as much space as you used to and also a smaller 1 story home is perfect for physical abilities of an older age to not have to climb up and down stairs.
A nice single level home on the lake in Texas is the perfect lifestyle for an older person and is what I would want. It would just be 2 people living with each other so it makes it much easier to live in a smaller home as it did with a family. Being 72, I would hopefully be retired by then and have some money to buy exactly what I want that fits my physical needs as well. This house is completely realistic for a retired elder.
In conclusion, going through all of the different life cycles and ages, many things change. From an apartment only needing to house yourself to a huge square footage home housing a family ready to send off their last kid, lifestyles switch significantly.
