At this small-scale facility, the main room consists of floor space and a tatami area. This paper aims to explain the relation between the factors which specify the areas dedicated to leisure time, meals, napping, and functional training, and the actions of users and staffs. The analysis focused on the relation between the tatami corner’s floor level difference with the main room’s floor space, and users’ daily life acts or staffs’ acts of care. Based on the acquired knowledge, I focused on the room’s usage composition at this small-scale facility, which installed a tatami corner.
The results are as follows.
１）Regarding the usage patterns of the main room, which includes a tatami area, 4 types were classified. First, the FTL+N type, in which leisure time, functional training and meals take place on the FS, and naps take place in the tatami area. Second, the FTLn+N type, in which free time, functional training, and meals are held on the FS, and the tatami area is fundamentally used for napping. Additionally, napping on beds and resting on sofas are partly held on the FS. Third, the FTLn+ (N) model, in which free time, functional training, and meals are held on the FS. As few users take naps and rest on the beds or sofas on the FS, the tatami area is not used for napping. Finally, the TL+FN type, in which functional training and meals are held on the floor space, and relaxation and naps are held in the tatami area.
２）Although the main room’s floor space is the “life base”, where meals, functional training and relaxation during leisure time take place, the floor space has restrictions. There are some instances in which users spend time in the appointed seats and little movement besides going to the restroom or bathing can be observed. Conversely, some facilities place the beds on the floor space for napping or resting purposes, in addition to the furniture dedicated to relaxation such as sofas in the FTLn+N type or in the FTLn+(N) model corner arrangement type. The present floor space’s floor level indicates that the relaxation area, which requires users to bring their own seating and can be visited freely, cannot be fully secured. Furthermore, during functional training, the lunch tables are put away and ample room is secured in many cases, which engenders anxiety about issues such as the users’ generated waiting time within the floor space, or the discontinuation of individual activities.
３）The tatami corner has a level difference as large as 30-40 cm with the FS, and a large portion of the facility, contrary to assumptions at the time of design, does not function as a relaxation area but rather solely serves as a napping corner, or unused space. The increasing degree of care accompanying the facility’s aging daily users highlights their declining strength regarding their walking or stair-climbing abilities, and the growing number of elderly people facing difficulty with floor seating. As a result, everyday relaxation will also be held on the floor space, where meals or functional training take place.
