| 155 OLD AGE COTTAGE** |
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729
. . . we have explained, in oi.d people everywhere (40), that it is essential to have a balanced number of old people in every neighborhood, partly centered around a communal place, but largely strung out among the other houses of the neighborhood. This pattern now defines the nature of the houses for old people in more detaiclass="underline" both those which are a part of clusters and those which are tucked, autonomously, between the larger houses. As we shall see, it seems desirable that every family should have a cottage like this, attached to it—the family (75). Like rooms to rent (153) and teenager’s cottage (154), this cottage can be rented out or used for other purposes in time of trouble.
Old people, especially when they are alone, face a terrible dilemma. On the one hand, there are inescapable forces pushing them toward independence: their children move away; the neighborhood changes; their friends and wives and husbands die. On the other hand, by the very nature of aging, old people become dependent on simple conveniences, simple connections to the society about them.
This conflict is reflected often in their children’s conflict. On the one hand, children feel responsible for their parents, because, of course, they sense their growing need for care and comfort. On the other hand, as families are whittled down, parent-child conflicts become more acute, and few people can imagine actually being able or willing to take care of their parents in their dotage.
The conflict can be partly resolved, if each house which houses a nuclear family has, somewhere near it, a small cottage where a grandparent can live, far enough away to be independent, and yet close enough to feel some tie and to be cared for in a time of trouble or approaching death.
But the conflict is more general. Even if we ignore, altogether, the complexities of parent-child relationships, the fact is that most old people face enormous difficulties as they grow older. The wel-
730
155 OLD AGE COTTAGE
fare state tries to replace the comfort of the extended family with payments—social security or pensions. This income is always tiny; and inflation makes it worse. In the United States, one-quarter of the population over 65 lives on less than $4000 a year. Many of the old people in our society are forced to live in miserable tiny rooms, way in the back of some run-down old folks hotel. They cannnot have a decent house, because there are no decent tiny houses compatible with a small income and reduced activity.
This second conflict, between the need for someplace really small and modest and the need for social contact, a view of passing people, someone to nod to, a place in the sun, can also be resolved, like the first conflict, by cottages. It can be resolved, if there are many tiny cottages, dotted among the houses of communities and always strung along pedestrian paths—tiny enough to be really cheap.
Therefore:
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Build small cottages specifically for old people. Build some of them on the land of larger houses, for a grandparent; build others on individual lots, much smaller than ordinary lots. In all cases, place these cottages at ground level, right on the street, where people are walking by, and close to neighborhood services and common land.
BUILDINGS
Perhaps the most important part of an old age cottage is the front porch and front door bench outside the door, right on the street—private terrace on the street (140), front door bench (242) ; for the rest, arrange the cottage pretty much according to the layout of any house for one person (78) ; make provisions for settled work (156); and give the cottage a street window (164). And for the shape of the cottage start with the shape of indoor space (191) and structure follows social spaces (205). . . .
732
| 156 SETTLED WORK* |
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733
. . . as people grow older, simple satisfying work which nourishes, becomes more and more important. This pattern specifies the need for this development to be a part of every family. It helps to form the family (75), it helps form old age cottage (155), and it is a natural embellishment of a room of one’s own (141).
The experience of settled work is a prerequisite for peace of mind in old age. Yet our society undermines this experience by making a rift between working life and retirement, and between workplace and home.
First of all, what do we mean by “settled work”? It is the work which unites all the threads of a person’s life into one activity: the activity becomes a complete and wholehearted extension of the person behind it. It is a kind of work that one cannot come to overnight; but only by gradual development. And it is a kind of work that is so thoroughly a part of one’s way of life that it most naturally occurs within or very near the home: when it is free to develop, the workplace and the home gradually fuse and become one thing.
It may be the same kind of work that a man has been doing all his life—but as settled work it becomes more profound, more concrete, and more unique. For example, there is the bureaucrat who finally breaks through all the paper work and finds the underlying organic function in his work. Then he begins to let this function into the world. This is the theme of Kurosawa’s most beautiful film, Ikiru: To Live. Or it may be work that a person begins in his spare time, away from his occupation, and it gradually expands and becomes more involving, until it replaces his old occupation altogether.
The problem is that very many people never achieve the experience of settled work. This is essentially because a person,
156 SETTLED WORK
during his working life, has neither the time nor the space to develop it. In today’s marketplace most people are forced to adapt their work to the rules of the office, the factory, or the institution. And generally this work is all-consuming—when the weekends come people do not have the energy to start a new, demanding kind of work. Even in the self-governing workshops and offices, where working procedures are created ad hoc by the workers as they go, the work itself is generally geared to the demands of the marketplace. It does not allow time for the slow growth of “settled work”—which comes from within and may not always carry its weight in the marketplace.
To solve the problem, we must first of all create a working environment, where a person, from say middle age, Iras the opportunity of slowly developing a kind of settled work that is right for him. For instance, if people were able to take off one day a week, with half-time pay, beginning at the age of 40, they could gradually set up for themselves a workshop in their home or in their neighborhood. If the time is increased gradually over the years, a person can explore various kinds of work; and, then, gradually let the settled work replace his working life.