Social milieu: a service center for the forgotten aged

Abstract

The western concepts and ideologies that shaped South African cites into what they are today have come at a cost to the recipients of colonisation. Communities previously that thrived on kinship systems have now been replaced by groups that coexist in a in a said context. In traditional African village, each age group had their role within the society, the young adults would go out and work, hunting, farming etc while the elderly became the guardians, the caretakers of the children, and they would provide guidance for the impressionable youth while passing down a great body of knowledge. Within this traditional system the social obligations of the aged were multi dimensional in the sense that they encompassed religion, education, politics, recreation, economic, and prophetic issues. In those days, people looked forward to getting old. In a sense this can be coined within the bounds of Ubuntu. In these contemporary times, social and economic changes have put into doubt the continued viability of such traditional arrangements for the elderly. Changes like increased emphasis on smaller family units, migration to urban areas, new life styles and changing values all have effects on the traditional forms of care of the elderly. Financial difficulties have made it imperative for many women to now work for pay outside the home and also the issues of education for the young have reduced the caring role of the grandchildren. Within modern society one could also attribute the deterioration of moral fiber to the breakdown of Ubuntu and the rise of individuality. This thesis aims to understand the benefits of the traditional African system for the elderly as a means to develop an appropriate architectural response to the plight of the forgotten aged. In order to contribute towards the creation of a more locally relevant architecture for the aged, this paper proposes the development of a hybrid building prototype that would facilitate the inclusion of the elderly into a community while allowing them to play an important role in the moulding of its youth