The Vista at CC Young A Senior Living High-Rise with Stunning Views

The Challenge

CC Young Senior Living in Dallas needed to consolidate its licensed areas of care from four separate buildings into one. The continuing care community also recognized that demand for senior living is fluid and that CC Young should be able to adapt to changing demographics and expectations in coming decades. A competitive market for senior services and for staff recruitment also required that CC Young modernize its facilities.

The Design Solution

With only one small parcel of land left on CC Young’s land-locked campus, the design solution stacked multiple types of care into one handsome mixed-use tower with views of White Rock Lake and East Dallas.

Positioned on a steep slope, The Vista at CC Young takes advantage of the topography. Designers buried the garage, leaving more walkable green space for residents and staff. The design team created three distinct entrances at three different levels to better monitor visitors while improving resident and staff access to the campus and separating paths for support services and deliveries from public circulation.

The entire building was designed to the highest licensing standards to give CC Young the flexibility to transition spaces from assisted living to memory support to skilled nursing care, if necessary. The tower features small, house-like environments to create a welcoming ambiance for residents and visitors. The adult day center was reimagined, designed with a residential character that is familiar and comfortable. The rehabilitation gym, which in other facilities can be a distracting space crammed with too many seniors, was designed as an array of smaller, private spaces for focused activities around an indoor walking loop. The campus also includes a hybrid recreation/therapy pool.

The natural surroundings in the White Rock Lake area inspired design choices, such as balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows in the apartments, along with a sky garden on the top floor. A therapy garden on the ground floor features pathways of different materials and is open to the whole campus.

The Design Impact

The Vista delivered a needed refresh to a respected senior living community and gave it more flexibility by concentrating different kinds of licensed care into a single complex. Its award-winning design has drawn attention to what used to be a hidden gem in East Dallas.