A home to call one’s own – a private bedroom and bath, ample shared living space, and a front door where family and friends can be greeted. These are the principles that guided Air Force Villages in the search for their model of culture change and initiated a repositioning of its two self-contained campuses—one campus offering a more urban lifestyle and the other a more rural one. Their vision called for a strong physical connection between each home that would allow for efficient staff and service delivery as well as building a stronger sense of community.

The strategic planning process focused on addressing future marketability of housing options, as well as amenities for residents. It was crucial that this planning address resident preferences at each campus while not duplicating options and amenities. The resulting plan integrated the campuses, allowing each to stand as a neighborhood within a larger combined context of the Air Force Villages’ community. 

The first phase of enhancements included complementing the single large dining venue at each campus with additional options. A new bistro and a 16th-floor dining sky lounge restaurant and bar were created in the independent living high-rise at Village I. At Village II, a grab-and-go style café revitalizes the existing town center.

Three new four-story independent living Hill Residences were added to the new entry of Village I, replacing existing smaller duplex-type homes and apartments, which had become less marketable and accommodating to residents. A new skilled care-rehabilitation residence—The Mission, an integral component of the community reinvention—designed in a small house-connected model—where individual households, each unique aesthetically, create an individualized identity within the larger community household—replaces the existing institutional model. Perkins Eastman provided a complete repositioning—strategic and master planning, architecture, and interior design—for this 40-acre Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). In addition, Village II added 75 customized-to-suit, ranch-style independent living homes.

Above all, when planning and implementing the repositioning of Air Force Village I and II, Perkins Eastman and the client both determined that a new philosophy of care was to be implemented. This was perhaps the most important culture change throughout the project.