NEW AGING: Live Smarter Now to Live Better Forever by Matthias Hollwich with Jennifer Krichels and illustrations by Robert Samuel Hanson of Bruce Mau Designs is a manifesto. It is a call for people to take charge of their lives and reshape their living spaces to accommodate how their needs will change as they age so that aging will be less of a disruption and more of an adventure.
Seven years ago, architect Matthias Hollwich took stock of what awaited him in the next 40 years of his life, and he did not like what he saw—cold, sterile nursing homes, boredom, and a loss of freedom and vitality. He realized that, as a society, we need to take into account that while our needs evolve as we age, our desire to enjoy life does not. Instead of storing the elderly in nursing homes, we need to reimagine how our living spaces are designed so that nursing homes become obsolete. So, with the help of his architecture firm, Hollwich Kushner, he has started a movement to change the way we experience aging.
Aging is part of life. It is what makes us who we are, says Hollwich. But the way our society is aging is an outdated model and we need to change that–immediately.
Matthias Hollwich has laid out his work on aging and architecture into a collection of short, digestible passages that will inspire us to think creatively and realistically about how we want to spend the rest of our lives. His advice ranges from practical design tips for making our homes safer and more comfortable to thought-provoking insights on how we work, relax, travel, socialize, and even how we eat.
Most importantly, Matthias wants us to make small, simple changes in our 40s, so we won’t be forced to make large ones in our 70s. And with its colorful design and illustrations created by Bruce Mau Designs, NEW AGING will inspire readers and their loved ones to live smarter now to live better forever.
