Abstract
Proper facilities for elderly is important for preparation for being an aging society of
Thailand in a near future. Number of elderly in elderly home care is increasing during the past
few years. This trend is expected to continue for decades.
This paper determines a priority of facilities for elderly in elderly home care in
Nakhon Ratchasima province namely Thamma Pakorn Poeklang. Three groups of information;
including capability of the facilities to prevent falling in elderly, frequency and violence of
falling in elderly, and level of self-care ability, are used for a determination of the priority of
facilities for elderly. This study shows that facilities relating to environmental arrangement and
balance of elderly are the most important depending on locations. For the wide court area,
facilities relating to environmental arrangement are this most important. While, facilities
relating to balance of elderly are the most important for limited space area. Results from this
study are based on elderly sampled from the studied area. For other areas, it is suggested to
determine the level of self-care ability of elderly in the interested area and re-determine the
priority of facilities for elderly in the same way presented in this paper.
This research explored basic information, physical characteristics, and strength of
elderly in Thammapakon Pho Klang nursing home, Nakhon Ratchasima. Fifty nine subjects, 41
males and 18 females, participated in this study. Average age of the subjects was 75.07 years
old. Average heights were 160.42 and 144.97 cm for males and females, respectively. Average
shoulder heights were 134.24 and 119.22 cm for males and females, respectively. Average
hand thickness were 4.00 and 2.90 cm for males and females, respectively. Average grip
breadths, inside diameter, were 3.55 and 2.89 cm for males and females, respectively.
Strength of males was greater than that of females. Data obtained from this research can be
used to design facilities for elderly. For example, handrail diameter should be 3-4 cm. and
handrail height should be 80 cm. These dimensions conform to stipulating accessibility in
buildings for disabled persons and elderly ministerial regulation B.E. 2548.
Design of buildings of Thammapakon Pho Klang nursing home, Nakhon Ratchasima
based on green building principles is a suggestion of design guidelines. These guidelines
include layout of project and buildings in Thammapakon Pho Klang nursing home which
conform to green building and energy saving principles and also efficiency increase. Moreover,
building utilization, water management, waste management, environment friendly material
selection, effect of buildings on health of building users and environment, construction, operations, maintenance, and high quality disposal are included. The researchers have made
3 dimensional animation in order to transfer knowledges and understanding of building design
for elderly based on green building and accessibility of people at all ages.
