The Care Suite
This pattern is shaped by
Problem
When a family member requires daily care — after surgery, during illness, in advanced age — the options are institutional care (expensive, impersonal) or home care in a building not designed for it (dangerous, exhausting). A room designed for care is neither a hospital room nor a regular bedroom — it has specific needs that neither provides.
Evidence and Discussion
The care suite is a room that functions normally most of the time (a guest room, a study) but can convert quickly for care situations: wider doorway for a hospital bed, a bathroom with a shower seat accessible from the bed, an intercom to the main house, good natural light, and space for a caregiver to sit comfortably overnight.
Therefore
in every home designed for aging in place, provide one room that can convert to a care suite without renovation — a room with a 36-inch doorway, an adjacent bathroom with roll-in shower and grab bars, a path wide enough for a hospital bed, good natural light, ventilation, and an intercom or monitoring connection to the main living area. The room should be comfortable and dignified, not clinical — it is still a room in a home, not a ward in a hospital.