Shinhan Life Care Partners with Japan’s Nikken Sekkei to Develop Age-Friendly Housing Model

[Financial News] Shinhan Life Care, Shinhan Life’s subsidiary specializing in senior services, is joining forces with Japan’s comprehensive architectural design firm Nikken Sekkei to target the domestic senior housing market. The company plans to establish a differentiated housing model that considers not only care for older adults but also their daily routines and healthy lifestyles.
Shinhan Life Care announced on the 8th that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nikken Sekkei at the Japanese firm’s headquarters in Tokyo on the 7th to develop senior housing and care facilities.
Seventeen officials from both companies attended the signing ceremony, including Atsushi Omatsu, representative of Nikken Sekkei; Wataru Tanaka, head of its overseas business division; Woo Seok-moon, CEO of Shinhan Life Care; and Lee Hoo-kyung, head of Shinhan Life’s strategic planning group.
The two companies will jointly review architectural and interior design, as well as the development of spatial master plans, for Shinhan Life Care’s facilities. They will also share examples of senior-facility operations and design in Japan and study circulation routes and spatial layouts that improve residents’ mobility and convenience.
Their areas of cooperation also include the use of smart healthcare technologies and universal design. The companies plan to gradually expand their collaboration by identifying opportunities to develop senior facilities in Korea and abroad.
Founded in 1900, Nikken Sekkei is one of Japan’s leading comprehensive architectural design firms. It operates across a range of fields, including architectural design, urban planning, structural and building-services engineering, and consulting. It is also ranked among the world’s leading architectural design firms in WA100, a global ranking compiled by the British architecture publication Building Design.
The firm is particularly recognized for its accumulated experience in the design and spatial planning of senior facilities since Japan became a super-aged society.
Shinhan Life Care plans to further expand its partnerships with external specialists in the senior housing sector following the agreement.
Woo Seok-moon, CEO of Shinhan Life Care, said, "The competitiveness of senior housing depends less on a building’s exterior than on how naturally residents can continue their existing daily routines and social relationships. By combining the operational experience accumulated through Solace with Nikken Sekkei’s expertise in architecture and spatial planning, we will create housing spaces suited to the lives and emotional needs of Korean seniors."
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