Grandschools – Connecting seniors and young Australians

Our joint National Health and Medical Research funded research project with QUT, ACU, and Deakin University, Grandschools, is now in its second year of a five year program. The project is investigating the potential to combine senior living and secondary schools to improve the physical and mental health of younger and older Australians.

Currently, our Seniors and youth live and learn in two very segregated silos, missing out on understanding and benefiting from each other’s perspectives and skills. Our team believes that breaking down these silos will lead to a healthier and happier society, along with making far better use of our substantially underutilised school facilities.

Fulton Trotter Architects have led the development of this exciting concept, having worked in both senior living and educational building design for decades, and seeing that there must be a better way. Partnering with three universities and funded by one of Australia’s most prestigious research bodies, we aim to make the idea into reality.

Several of our long standing clients and peers who share this vision have joined forces with us in this innovative proposal as industry partners, along with the global peak association for school design, Learning Environments (Australasian region).

Three of four proposed PhD project studies, those examining intergenerational educational programs, social enterprise development, and spatial design are well underway to assist in understanding how to transition to a new community of learners.

The early work of researching the current base position and framework is almost complete, and we are now ready to undertake research of case studies where education and senior living are trialing these new developments in intergenerational living and learning environments. We have been pleasantly surprised by the growing enthusiasm of providers from both fields to link up and pursue a more cohesive community.

Any of you interested in understanding more about our research and how to become involved please contact us and you can join our program.