Long Beach Senior Arts Colony, in Long Beach, California, embodies a paradigm shift in senior care living, moving from providing a home and activities for residents to "keep busy" to an environment that allows them to continue enjoying the hobbies and talents they've come to depend on in their lives and to continue trying new things.
 
"We challenge them," says Maureen Kellen-Taylor, COO at EngAGE, a nonprofit that provides arts and wellness programming to senior living communities. "We ask them what they've always dreamed of doing and then we figure out how we can achieve that."
 
Attendees at the 2014 Environments For Aging (EFA) Conference kicked off this year's event with a tour of the community, which opened about two years ago with 200 affordable senior apartments. Today, it's home to nearly 300 residents. 
 
Kellen-Taylor says the building plays an important role in redefining aging by keeping residents connected through spaces that can shift and adapt to their programming needs and desires.
 
A gallery space hosts receptions for resident artists, as well as guest artists from the community. The double-height lobby with its piano, fireplace, and seating areas can transition between concerts and performances by the in-house choir to resident fashion shows and dance classes.
 
"Tuesday night is like a Saturday night here," says Helene Weinberg, arts program manger, EngAGE, with a different music program each week.
On the third floor, a rooftop garden provides space to grow vegetables, walk your dog, or gather with friends and family near the outdoor fireplace. The enclosed community center can host cooking classes, potlucks, and community meetings, as well as theater performances by the resident troupe. 
 
Residents play an active role in determining the community's programming, which changes about every 12 weeks and has included yoga, dance, T'ai Chi, chorus, ceramics, and painting.
 
In addition to focusing on seniors' wellness, creativity, and learning, Kellen-Taylor says the modern, light-filled building is also an important face to the outside world and helps people to think differently about what it means to age.
 
"The can be one of the more exciting parts of your life," she says.