Teaching existing homes to be connected

The rapid aging and aging-in-place policies of the Dutch population has brought an increase in the demand for suitable dwellings. Domotics defined as: the advanced technological equipments and services in the domestic environment to sustain and to enhance the quality of aging in place as well as the empowerment of the senior citizen (in daily life) can contribute significantly to this issue. Literature reviews, qualitative and quantitative empirical studies carried out in a PhD-research [6] have formed the basis of this paper. The research seeks to: (i) Provide an overview of the multiplicity of the needs and attitudes of the older citizens regarding smart technology in their domestic environment (ii) Provide information in regards to the development of domotic technology in the living environment of the senior citizens, (iii) Assesses indicators of integrated and intelligent homes as perceived by the professional key stakeholders (iv) Develop strategies and recommendations to incorporate intelligent technology in the architectural structure of the existing dwellings. (v) Validate the developed strategies in an empirical case study (DCA-homes). This paper focuses on the last phase of the research and in particular on the product development process of a smart-wall to solve the infrastructural problem of the implementation of domotics in the existing homes to empower the senior citizens to age in their own place. Here the idea and emphasis is not on the implementation of the DCA Wall (secondary wall) but more on the implications and advantages it has in the implementation of domotic appliances which will be then used by the elderly resident to aid his/her living style.