Focus Healthcare Partners | Mansions Portfolio (4 Properties)

PFB undertook multi-phased renovations of (4) existing Senior Living facilities in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA. The project included the addition of a bistro at Sandy Springs as well as a purpose-built reception desk in its lobby. All properties received common space and corridor finish packages, unit turn specification, minor renovations, a new furniture package, and coordination with an art specialist. On the exterior, we designed new patios and pergolas as well as fenced-in, dedicated dog parks. The subject properties are The Mansions at Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Decatur, and Gwinnett, originally constructed between 2013-2017.

PFB Architects collaborated with the client to create an updated and harmonious new finish palette to compliment the existing architectural features and southern charm of the buildings.

Prior to the renovation, corridors on each floor were identical, presenting challenges for residents to find their way throughout the buildings. Our new palette mitigated these struggles by creating color-based wayfinding – each floor received its own colorway of carpet with complimentary accent walls highlighting unit entries and architectural features such as the archways in the larger central corridor, where senior-friendly seating groups were added for impromptu gatherings and rest zones.

Existing lobbies were visually overstimulating, with a cacophony of pattern and accessories. Furniture was not senior-friendly, with seat heights too tall and seat cushions too soft. A small area of ceramic tile at the main entry was not large enough to prevent wear and tear on the carpeting from inclement weather.

The renovation included creating a clear circulation pattern from the front door, with new ceramic tile subdividing the carpeted seating areas from the entryway. New senior-friendly furniture in calming, coordinated patterns create a welcoming introduction to the property. Existing light fixtures were replaced with modern LED fixtures, and a thoughtfully-curated selection of minimal accessories and artwork round out the space.

Private Developer | Spring Hill

The campus consists of five buildings offering Independent and Assisted Living as well as Memory Care. The Aspen Building is the heart of campus, with the main lobby, an Any-Time Café, Dining and Great Rooms, and the campus kitchen. This renovation takes an existing facility with solid bones and creates an inviting experience for the next generation of seniors, with updated architecture and design, and offering welcoming hospitality, amenities, activities, and services.

Renovations began with units and corridors, upgrading finishes and fixtures throughout,
with artwork, signage, accent paint and flooring to differentiate both floor and acuity.

In the Main Lobby, the landlocked reception desk – situated at the intersection of corridors and a bank of elevators – is expanded and refaced with stone, to draw attention across the lobby. Wood slats create a geometric pattern along the back wall and up the soffit to further draw attention to the receptionist waiting to greet guests and answer resident questions.

Past the reception desk and Aspen building elevators is an underutilized, sun-drenched café space, with a beverage station hidden in a corner. That hidden amenity is brought front-and-center in the redesigned Any-Time Café, with a new bistro echoing the elements of the reception desk, offering grab-and-go items as well as beverages. Existing columns are painted and treated with accent vinyl wallcovering with a large-scale floral print, dated furniture is replaced with comfortable seating groups in bright, playful fabrics, and existing linear blinds on the floor-to-ceiling windows are swapped for modern, sunny sheers.

The existing ceiling is mirrored in the new flooring pattern, with bold, contrasting wood and stone LVT, and modern fixtures take the place of the tired lighting of yesteryear.

In the adjoining Aspen Dining and Great Rooms, carpet is replaced with more maintenance-friendly LVT in a pattern mirroring the ceiling soffitry. An existing fireplace gets a facelift with stacked stone and a quartz surround, and the sea of beige walls receive varying shades to accentuate the generous heights in the rooms, with an accent wall of green drawing the eye to the updated fireplace and adjoining space, beyond. Pilasters are treated with the same rich paint and wallcovering, and an existing partial-height screen wall separating the service area from main dining is raised, featuring the same wood slat design pattern in reception for design continuity and a sense of place.

Additional scope includes the redesign of other campus building common areas, opening amenities to corridors to encourage resident interactions, as well as an expansive redesign of the Memory Care building to modernize the building, expand resident amenity areas, and improve resident and staff satisfaction.

Private Developer | Baypoint Village

Located north of Tampa on the west coast of Florida sits a senior living facility disguised as a Swiss Chalet. Tasked with modernizing and improving the community, as well as creating a new Memory Care unit on the ground floor, PFB Architects was challenged to rescript the space while maintaining its existing, unique architectural features.

At the entry, the reception desk was pulled forward into the space from behind a wall, giving it prominence and ease of locating. The existing octagonal bistro was relocated adjacent from the new reception desk, its lines mirroring that of reception, to create a visual narrowing to direct resident and guest traffic to staff touch-points.

In the soaring two-story space, heavy timber beams were left untouched, as was the trim delineating the line of the second floor, while other beams and trim were painted white to create visual hierarchy and lighten the overall aesthetic. Similarly, feature bricks on the existing two-story fireplace remain red brick, with the surrounding field bricks painted white, highlighting the patterning of the feature elements and allowing the bulk of the fireplace to recede into the background. Updated finishes, furniture, artwork, and a more modern chandelier complete the impactful effect.

In the second floor Dining, overlooking the lobby below, the same new design language emerges. The existing heavy timber beams and columns were left untouched, while the secondary beams and pilasters were painted white. This visual hierarchy allows the grandeur of the trusswork to shine while brightening the space. As below, feature bricks on the existing two-story fireplace remain red brick, with the surrounding field bricks painted white, highlighting the patterning of the feature elements and allowing the bulk of the fireplace to recede into the background. Updated finishes, furniture, artwork, ceiling fans LED downlights, and semi-transparent Roman Shades at the windows complete the new look.

On the first floor, a series of offices and support spaces between two wings of studio units is converted into the Commons of a new Memory Care Unit. Design challenges included maintaining circulation to the existing elevator banks in the heart of the space, as well as creating a functional Salon that would serve both the Memory Care residents as well as the larger community. Additionally, this new unit would require a warming and prep kitchen, as it has no proximity to the community’s main kitchen. Finally, structural bearing walls and equipment closets became landmarks to design around without disrupting the visual and walking flow for residents.

In the MC Living area, a bearing wall is wrapped in white brick veneer and integrated into a peninsula fireplace as a nod to the redesigned fireplace in the main lobby. Another bearing wall separates the Living and Country Kitchen from the staff entry to the adjacent Pantry / prep kitchen. Existing Sun Rooms on either side of the Commons are enclosed for resident safety, and a new Memory Care Courtyard with 8-foot tall fence featuring shade trees, benches, and a wandering path round out the new unit design.

Private Developer | McLoughlin Place

McLoughlin Place offers Assisted Living and Memory Care in the Portland, OR area. This renovation offers a next-generation experience, with updated architecture and design creating welcoming hospitality, amenities, activities, and services.

A tired, dated lobby is reworked to improve
functionality, visually modernize, and create a sense of place for the facility. Once merely the access-point to a long, winding corridor, opening walls creates a vista of possibility. A curved reception desk is replaced with an angled stone and live-edge wood millwork, directing circulation flows into the opened Dining and Activity Rooms beyond a new see-through feature water wall. This branded feature wall is the focal point as you enter the building, while also providing the Lobby, Dining Room, and Activity Room with a calming sight and soothing sounds.

The Dining Room featured a beautiful, vaulted ceiling that was a hidden treasure. With the walls removed and columns wrapped in stacked stone, the soaring, vaulted ceiling now springs into view from the lobby.

Now the hub of activity, the new Dining Room offers a bistro with beverage service as well as offering general store items for purchase, within view of the main corridor. The Bistro becomes an anchor to the Dining Room and can be seen from the Lobby and Reception.

Warm tones of stone and wood accent the existing beams, and create a calm and inviting environment for residents and staff alike.

The Memory Care Dining and Activity room was an odd configuration, with an existing linear serving station blocking access to the outdoor Memory Care Courtyard. By relocating the serving station and designing it to feel like a residential kitchen, the space becomes more usable and less institutional. Wood and stone from the Lobby are carried through to this space, and the peninsula offers a serving zone for staff as well as a seated area for residents. A painted soffit above the peninsula with pendant lights visually separates that zone from the main dining area and breaks up the sea of acoustic ceiling.

The cool blue and orange-hued wood in the room are replaced with warm, earthy tones to create a sense of home and calm. Spindly structural columns are furred out to have more visual weight and help separate serving from dining.

Existing exterior windows to the courtyard were replaced with lockable sliding doors, allowing residents easier access to an expanded MC Courtyard with patio dining.

In addition to the extensive scope of the Commons renovation, the community received resident corridor and unit finish upgrades in both campus buildings, and an unused parcel of land was converted into a resident community garden for outdoor planting and reflection.

Private Developer | Cascade Valley

The Cascade Valley community offers Assisted Living and Memory Care in the Seattle, WA area. This renovation offers a next-generation experience for residents with minimal impact to the facilities “bones,” taking stark, drab interiors and creating a warm, welcoming environment of hospitality, amenities, and services.

Renovations began with units and corridors, upgrading finishes and fixtures throughout.

The lobby is reworked to improve functionality. The reception desk is replaced in the same footprint with stone and wood millwork, as well as accessible and standing-height transaction surfaces. A new 3-sided fireplace with branded signage above provides a clear sense of place, as well as warmth and comfort to the lobby and adjacent AL Dining.

In order to improve resident care, the wall separating the Assisted and Memory Care Dining Rooms was relocated to expand Memory Care, making a narrow space with a pinch-point into an open area with comfortable flows. An old serving and nurse station zone is relocated to the entry of the new MC Dining and Living area in the form of a Country Kitchen, providing residential cues for residents. A feature fireplace in the same materials as the lobby subdivides Memory Care Dining from the Memory Care Living. Overall, the space becomes a modern but comfortable study in contrast.

On the Assisted Living side, the Dining entry niche is removed to open the room to the lobby, and the
server and beverage area was relocated adjacent to the kitchen, enlarged, and redesigned for improved flows. An underutilized Private Dining Room is opened to the main dining to provide additional dining space; while the Assisted Living Dining Room footprint was reduced to improve Memory Care, the redesigned Assisted Living space feels as open as before, and – importantly – accommodates the same seating as before.

On the second floor, the Assisted Living Activity Room receives updated finishes, fixtures, and furniture, creating a warm, inviting space for community and connection.

The refined Library and Media area offers shelving and lockable base cabinets, with integrated AV equipment for resident enjoyment and programmed viewings. With a focus on flexibility and multi-use, the furniture design includes tables which can nest, to enable staff to quickly fold and store to accommodate chair exercise or other non-seated activities.

Once dated and institutional, the renovated Cascade Valley Senior Living community is now a comfortable and modern facility with a clear sense of place, nestled in its Pacific Northwest surroundings.

Private Developer | Senior Living Facility

After an initial series of studies to update and expand an existing two-story building atop a one-story podium into a Senior Living Community, the decision was made to raze the existing structure in favor of all new construction. The site is prominent but tricky, with a large flood plain which would need to be avoided by all construction. Because local authorities required a minimal façade on the main road, the building turns its back to the traffic, presenting small, two-story projections on the approach, with a three-story expanse on the sloping north side of the property.

Despite the site challenges, PFB Architects met the programmatic requirements and desired unit mixes, and this project is the most efficient, to-date. To reinforce the facility’s presence within an established brand, a two-story living room with a monumental fireplace flank the main entry. Large, open areas connect the front entry to lounges and dining rooms available to Independent and Assisted Living residents. The exterior material pallet is composed primarily of brick, fiber cement siding, and Prairie stone, intermingled to create a rhythm along the façade. Residents enjoy eye-catching courtyards and attractive landscaping on the grounds.

Private Developer | The Virginian

PFB Architects was engaged by a private developer to analyze and create a master plan for the full renovation of a property they were considering purchasing. After a series of site visits and meetings with stakeholders, PFB presented the framework for the total overhaul of the exterior and large portions of the interior, transforming this aging facility into a standard-setting home for retirees of all acuities. Site grading presented unique challenges, which were developed into fantastic opportunities, as we utilized site drops for new engaging outdoor patios and walk-out enclosed swimming pool.

After an initial series of studies to update and expand the entry area, the decision was made to modernize the existing façade in favor of all new construction. PFB worked closely with the client to create an astounding aesthetic, delivering a vibrant welcome to its prospects. While remaining true to the client’s brand and values, PFB introduced an enhancement concept that undoubtedly sets The Virginian brand in a category of its own compared to surrounding competitor campuses.

As part of the design process, it was critical that the entry-way garden was optimized for resident use. In these sketches and renderings, PFB responded to the challenge with a marvelous open-space promenade, located at the heart of the campus, allowing campus residents to enjoy community events, savor an outdoor meal with visitors, and bask in the natural beauty that surrounds the campus, in the comfort of their front lawn.

The community redevelopment included the purchase of adjacent properties, and the client requested that PFB explore a complete, holistic rework of the expanded campus, to include valet parking, dedicated lots for residents and staff, redesigned and discrete ambulance access, and amenities throughout the property – including bocce ball, golf, an enclosed pool attached to the new Wellness Center, distinct patios, a children’s play area for family visits, and linked access to the nearby wilderness trails. The site was also to include opportunities for future expansion of the Skilled Nursing component into its own stand-alone building, as well as additional amenities.

On the interior, the client requested major renovations to the common areas of the space, including the addition of two monumental stairs: one connecting the Main Lobby to the ground level Independent Living Dining Room, Art Studio, Wine Bar, Game Room, Library, Multipurpose Room, and Wellness Center – offering a Fitness Center, Juice Bar, Salon, Spa, Massage, Exam and Consult Rooms; the other connecting the Main Lobby to the second floor Assisted Living amenities, which include Dining, Bistro, Theater, Gym, and Salon. Additionally, two new Memory Care Units were created on the ground floor, with access from the unit living rooms to an enclosed Memory Care courtyard.

Focus Healthcare Partners | Fountain View Village

Fountain View Village offers unique senior living in the Phoenix, AZ area. This renovation offers a next-generation experience, with updated architecture and design creating welcoming hospitality, amenities, activities, and services.

Renovations began with units and corridors, upgrading finishes and fixtures throughout, with artwork, signage, accent paint and flooring to differentiate both floor and acuity.

In the Commons Building, a tired Bistro off the main lobby is transformed with refined finishes and furniture, and the lobby is reworked to

Improve functionality. The furniture desk is replaced with stone and wood millwork. A custom-built hospitality station tucks into a newly-created niche, and package storage is out of view but within easy access of the front door, hidden on the reverse side of a new feature wall with concealed LED strip lights behind the reception desk.

The two-story Commons Building central Rotunda had great bones, with a glass-enclosed elevator, large-format pendant fixtures, and clerestory windows letting in ample Arizona sun, but the finishes were worn and dated. The renovation replaces a millwork display cabinet in front of the elevator with a double-sided stacked-stone fireplace – allowing views into and out of the elevator while creating a feature element in the large space. Columns are treated with trimmed-out geometric wallcovering in a dark brown to coordinate with the existing railing system. Shell-shaped sconces are replaced with modern curved fixtures, and the room height is highlighted, visually, with a subtle change in paint color, lightening at each section of existing trim. Existing beams on the ceiling are accentuated with a wood-look treatment. Overall, the space becomes a modern but comfortable study in contrast.

In the dark, enclosed Pub beyond, walls are removed to open it to the adjacent Rotunda, allowing these two entertainment zones to connect and offer additional functionality for planned events and chance encounters. Updated finishes within the Pub create visual continuity throughout the first floor of the Commons, as well.

On the second floor of the Commons, the adjacent Independent and Assisted Living Dining rooms are treated to updated finishes, fixtures, and furniture, creating bright, inviting spaces for meals and connection. Full-length mirrors along the corridor side of the rooms are replaced with impact-resistant quartz-wrapped walker storage niches and abstract arrow-head motif glass-enclosed wine racks above, offering a visibility to and from surrounding spaces while maintaining separation of functions.

Rounding out the amenities on the second floor, Private Dining, Multipurpose, and Library also receive new finishes, fixtures, and furnishings.

Connecting the Assisted Living Building to the Central Commons is a two-story lounge, currently underutilized with an assortment of tables and chairs and a small piano. The space receives a major upgrade, bringing into the space elements of the Commons Rotunda. A low-slung stacked-stone fireplace with flanking pilasters accentuates the two-story volume while maintaining an intimate, human scale. A purpose-driven soft seating group faces the fireplace, featuring four swivel chairs to allow residents to turn and take in the hourly show of the Fountain Hills fountain in the distance. Additional functionality is address within the space with a mini library tucked under within the one-story area – full-height shelves flank two computer stations. The piano joins the library zone for planned or impromptu sing-alongs.

Focus Healthcare Partners | The Bartlett Reserve

An old hotel turned senior living facility was in need of an update. On the outside, the exterior façade was given a refresh with shutters and trim, the resident dining patio was redesigned to be more functional and aesthetically pleasing, and a monumental pier was added at the entry drive.

Inside, this project involved interior finish upgrades to the corridors, elevator lobby and lounge areas, as well as a redesign and finish upgrade to the 2-story entry, dining room, bistro, and multipurpose room. What was once a series of separate, enclosed rooms was transformed into an expansive lobby and living room which open onto an inviting dining room and bistro. A three-sided fireplace provides a visual separation between spaces while acting as a visual and social focal point for the facility.

The existing small, enclosed rooms were opened to create generous, flowing spaces from the front door through the lobby and lounge space, past a three-sided fireplace into the bistro and dining room, then out to the outdoor patio.

The existing Multipurpose Room had a leaking fireplace and patio doors to an exterior deck in a state of disrepair. The deck was removed, patio doors replaced with windows, and the fireplace replaced with built-in bookshelves flanking A/V cabinets and a projection screen.

To give the facility more flexibility in layout and function, moveable panels were added to the one-story area of the existing multipurpose room. This allows the movie theater zone to become more enclosed and intimate while leaving the two-story space available for additional programming. When the panels are opened, the room is spacious enough to accommodate all residents for meetings, sing-alongs at the piano, or other large functions.

Private Developer | Academy Village

Academy Village is a new senior housing community located on approximately 16 acres at the corner of Winding Way and Hackberry in Carmichael, California. The community includes 204 Independent Living 55+ Apartments, 12 Independent Living Villas, 8 Independent Living Micro-Homes, 93 Assisted Living Apartments, and 50 Memory Care Beds. This community is designed to enhance the surrounding area and provide inter-generational opportunities for living well and learning with the adjacent school. Central to the project is the Community Village Square which is open to the public with a restaurant, cafe, fitness center, indoor pool, and other wellness amenities.

Building A is a 2-story wood frame structure that functions as the Town Center and amenity hub for the community. The building is directly connected to Independent Living Buildings B and D via skybridges, which provide convenient access points for residents. Amenities include an indoor pool with locker room, kitchen and dining facilities, as well as a wellness clinic and administrative offices for the campus.

Building G is a 2-story wood frame structure that houses the Assisted Living and Memory Care program. This standalone building includes all Assisted Living Units and resident amenities, including resident dining, art studio, aerobics, and a day care for staff members and the surrounding community. Secure Memory Care neighborhoods are located on the first and second floor, with a dedicated interior courtyard.

Building H is a 1-story standalone performing arts center for the campus and surrounding community, including the adjacent High School. The flexible building programming allows Building H to function as a town hall, movie theater, concert venue, etc. Demising partitions allow the scale of the venue to be tailored to the size of anticipated gathering.