Description
RainbowVision Santa Fe is the first retirement village by RainbowVision Properties aimed at gays and lesbians in the United States. Located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, it is in a well-known cultural oasis with a gay-friendly reputation. Communities tailored towards gay seniors have been a dream, gay advocates say, ever since the gay rights movement was born after the 1969 Stonewall riot in New York’s Greenwich Village, when a fight between police and drag queens made national news after the police raided a gay bar. In today’s world the GLBT community is welcomed into all-inclusive places like RainbowVision. There are several conventional subdivisions that market homes or lots specifically to gays, non-profit urban ventures that include affordable housing and combinations of all popping up throughout the country. “A few groups have acquired land and are moving forward”, says the American Society on Aging, including subdivisions in Pecos, New Mexico, Zionville, North Carolina, urban condos and apartments in Boston and Los Angeles, and a lodge with cottages, town houses and nursing units in Santa Rosa, California.
RainbowVision counts 146 condos and rental units on approx. 2 hectares. Residents enjoy dining in the restaurant in El Centro, work out in a fitness centre complete with spa, massage services, yoga and Pilates classes, physical therapy and acupuncture, or indulge in facials. There are art studios, meeting rooms, a lounge and cabaret. Assisted living apartments on the top floor are an option when residents grow frail but do not want to leave.
RainbowVision has attracted middle- and upper-middle-class gays from across the country. The gay-owned development company is building a second, larger project in Palm Springs, California. The gay senior market is large, but no-one knows exactly how large, given that census forms don’t ask about sexual orientation. Gay senior communities do not exclude members of the straight community.
Like straights, most gays tell surveys they want to grow old at home, making RainbowVision and other gay projects extremely attractive to many gay retirees. This is significant especially considering that gays have different circumstances such as that almost 90% of gay retirees have no children, and nearly 80% are without partners.
According to SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders), a non-profit group that serves gay seniors in New York City, there are nearly 2.9 million gay men and lesbians over the age of 55.
Drawings
Photos
Exterior view of the terraced buildings in the Mexican tradition of loam render
Exterior view of the inner façade
Originally published in: Eckhard Feddersen, Insa Lüdtke, Living for the Elderly: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2011.