3.0 Problems faced by Existing Old Folks Home & Orphanages

3.0 Problems faced by Existing Old Folks Home & Orphanages

The main problem is both of the homes are being neglected by the government, architects, designers as well as the public. From the survey that has been done, 63% of the public think that these buildings are being neglected but they are improving in these recent years; 31% think that these buildings are being neglected all the time; more than 50% of them are not sure about the awareness of these buildings to the society. All these results show that majority of the people in Malaysia do not really pay attention to these buildings. The pretense of being busy at work is always used as the reason of not being conscious to these buildings and the people living there, instead the attitude of self-centeredness is the main cause of this issue.

3.1 Living Condition 

Most of the social welfare buildings namely the old folks homes and the orphanages especially the private homes are being run down due to the poor living status. These problems including the bad location, congested space, inappropriate design such as the interior and exterior, insufficient lighting resource, poor air ventilation, dull environment, insufficient facilities, unsuitable space planning and circulation, cleanliness and maintenance issues as well as the lack of sense of belonging and loneliness feeling.

Fig : Orphans have to eat at the open-air car porch area due to the reason of insufficient space.

Fig : Examples of congested dining space of an orphanage.

These problems occurred because they are not funded by the government. Nonetheless, government is more interested to focus on buildings that are able to stimulate the country's economics, such as entertainment centre, shopping malls, heritage buildings or tourists attraction and high rise buildings that are well designed for the privileged people. In fact, the body Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development should take action to solve the social welfare architecture problem in order to improve the living condition for the underprivileged. 

3.2 Space Planning

Children need different spaces to express themselves as they are more conscious about their surroundings at the growing stage. Similarly, the elderly needs both public and private spaces to enjoy comfort, privacy, freedom and social interaction as well. Unfortunately, the arrangement of the furniture and the attempt to define the space in the homes are disappointing. 97.9% of the people in Malaysia agreed that these buildings need to be improved in terms of space planning. For example, the beds are simply placed in a rigid order on a public sleeping area as shown in Figure __. There is no partition to divide the space. In other words, there is no privacy in the home.

Additionally, spaces are being used for multipurpose to save space. Fig __ shows a public sleeping area of an orphanage just next to the study area and the living area due to insufficient rooms provided. This problem will definitely affect the circulation, privacy issue, safety manner and comfort living of the orphans.

Other than the privacy issue, there are also homes which are facing the lack of public spaces problem. Fig __ shows a view from the entrance to the kitchen area of an old folks home. There is just one narrow corridor with private rooms at the sides to separate the elderly from one another. They are isolated and this brings the problem of lack of communication and social interaction with each other. The only common areas are the open-air dining area at the car porch area. Sense of loneliness is the major issue due to the poor space planning of the home.

As a conclusion, both the public and private spaces with proper space planning and circulation need to provide privacy and promote social interaction for the users.

Fig : Isolated rooms at the sides in an old folks home.

3.3 Design

From the survey that has been done, 52.5% of the public think that the design of social welfare buildings are still okay while 26.3% think that the design is bad. Also, more than half of them agreed that these buildings need proper interior designs too. It is important to create a suitable and cozy atmosphere for the elderly to keep them engaged and enjoy the rest of their life there. Likewise, orphans are absent with parents' love need a lively living space that has appropriate body experience to them. Sadly, the condition of existing old folks homes and orphanages is not designed in such a way that can help them both physically and emotionally, but just a simple shelter for them with four plain walls with inappropriate colours of wall paints as shown below.

Fig : An orphanage with empty interior design with loose furniture which is not well-maintained.

Fig : Unsuitable striking apple green is being used in the bedroom of an old folks home.

Colours play a fundamental role in affecting our mind and body through the different stages of life. Children from different stage of development needs different colours for living and learning. Young children need muted and soft tones of colours which are calming and peaceful. Strong and bright colours will make the children restless and unsettled because of its shocking and distracting effect. Correspondingly this applies to the older people as well. Softer shades of colours are suitable for them to address warmth, security and harmony feeling in order to decrease their sense of loneliness and fear.

Fig : An old folks home with striking yellow and deep blue as the main colour of its facade which is not suitable for the elderly to have a peaceful and restful life.

Other than that, exterior of a building gives the first impression to the public. Simple, stiff and bad appearance of a social welfare building gives an uncomfortable feeling to the public and this will indirectly affect their desire to visit the centre. Moreover, the advantages of having a welcoming facade design of a social welfare centre including raising awareness to the public as well as increasing the motivation and sense of companionship of its users.