Abstract
Many housing alternatives and design guidelines for the elderly have been suggested along with the rapid increase of old persons. However, most of them focused on the spatial composition and fixtures. They do not address on interior style which affects on interior mood. The interior style is especially important to the elderly who spend most of their time in indoor space, such as housing unit or nursing home. On the base of these backgrounds, the purpose of this study is to examine what interior style of bedroom and living room where the elderly lives are and whether they are significantly different depending on their cognitive ages, or not. The subject were 202 old persons who lived in Busan. Their ages were more than 65 years. They were interviewed by using 3D images of bedroom and living room. Each one consisted of three interior styles; Korean traditional style, Western classical style, and modern style. The results were as followings; The interior style of bedroom and living room which the old persons lived were different depending on the elderly's cognitive ages. The younger the old persons' cognitive ages were, they lived in bedroom or living room of modern style. Also, the older their cognitive ages were, they lived in bedroom or living room of Korean traditional style. These results show that the cognitive age of the old persons affect the characteristics of interior design which they live. Also, it implies that the elderly are not one homogeneous group, but a heterogeneous one.
