Casa de Sacerdote: A Retirement Home for Diocesan Priest

Casa De Sacerdote or Home of the “Retirement is no longer an individual’s last few declining years but rather than the beginning of a significant portion of an individual’s life.” (Wassum 2013) With the advancement of technology, lifespan of mankind has increased, which led to the growing population of the elderly. Given that shelter is a human’s basic need and nature as well as it requires suitability for elderly housing is a determining factor of their well-being. However, as people grow older their way of doing their daily task and activities has changed due to the infirmaries of old age that some of them need a much more supportive environment and care from others. A priest on the other hand is someone who is not at all different from other people, even though their way of living and everyday activities is different from others. In reality they also go through the situations that relate to aging and would eventually retire as well. For every 5,000 clergymen across the country, 300 are retirees. The retirement age for a Catholic priest is 75 but for some members of the clergy who are suffering from serious health problems they apply for retirement at an earlier age (Kadiwa, 2014). For this study, a member of the clergy will be in a retirement home for the elderly priests of the Diocese situated at the Municipality of Gumaca in Quezon Province. This project applies certain design and planning principles that will suit the needs of the religious elders. A place that is safe and secure, this project has applied the best approach in designing and planning the structure by means of analysing different requirements in securing the old age of the elderly religious individuals, by obtaining the proper care, support and social interaction they need and to also boost their overall wellbeing.