Engaging Residents

Design Team Seeks Feedback on New Furnishings

Gary and Marcia Marple take turns sitting in dining room chairs inside the community room.

The Marples are joined by dozens of other residents eager to offer feedback on proposed furnishings as part of The Summit’s $80 million expansion project.

One station includes four different dining rooms chairs and fabrics. Another is for outdoor umbrella fabrics. There are theater and reading room chairs to choose from. Each resident selects their top two favorites as interior designers from SFCS answer questions.

“As we continue with our Summit expansion project, we are offering the residents an opportunity to engage with the selection process,” Executive Director Kristi Martin said.

Resident engagement is a hallmark of life at The Summit and team members and leaders have consistently sought input throughout the construction process. Similar engagement sessions were hosted prior to the start of construction on the Blue Ridge Commons, Northside Cottage Neighborhood and Hybrid Homes.

The first depositors for cottages and Hybrid Homes received individual sessions to select finishes for the new homes. “Providing that resident engagement is critical to the success of the expansion process,” Martin said. “It gives the residents opportunity to feel part of the process and take ownership of what is being planned here on campus.”

Since The Summit is part of the LifeSpire of Virginia family of not-for-profit senior living communities, residents are assured that high-quality investments are made in building materials and furnishings, Gary Marple said.

“We are helping pick out the types of furnishing and finishings,” Marple said. “The residents are engaged in the process. Then we have to like it because we picked it out. It really is helpful for us to go through that process.”

Morgan Weber, an interior designer with SFCS, said resident feedback is invaluable to the fin l interior design work. “This is their home. So we want them to feel comfortable and we want them to give us that feedback so they really enjoy the spaces we are designing for them,” Weber said.