Beyond LEGO: A Layercake Framework for Senior Living
Building on lessons from modular architecture to create unified experiences with composable functionality
Last year, I stood before a room of senior living operators and technology leaders, making the case for modular thinking in our industry's technology stacks. Using LEGO as an analogy, I argued that we needed to move beyond monolithic "build once, fixed purpose" systems toward flexible, composable architectures that could evolve with our needs.
The response was immediate and largely positive, but one question kept surfacing in conversations afterward: "Isn't one system to do it all actually better? Wouldn't that create a more seamless experience for our teams?"
It's a fair question—and one that has led me to refine and expand my thinking about modular architecture in senior living. The answer isn't simply "no, modular is always better." Instead, it's more nuanced: we need to think about modular architecture like a layercake—with three distinct layers, each with different requirements for integration and flexibility. Just as each layer of a cake serves a different purpose but must work together to create the complete dessert, our technology architecture needs carefully designed layers that complement each other.
The Layercake Framework
After working with multiple senior living operators who've raised this critical question, I've developed a layercake framework that addresses both the need for modularity and the imperative for unified user experiences. Like a well-designed layercake, each layer serves a distinct purpose, but all three must work in harmony to create something that's both beautiful and functional:
The Top Layer: User/UX - Unified and Seamless
Think of this as the frosting on your layercake—it's what everyone sees and experiences first. This layer must be perfectly smooth and consistent across the entire surface.
The Challenge: Team members don't care about your technology architecture. They care about getting their work done efficiently and effectively. A fragmented user experience—jumping between different interfaces, remembering multiple login credentials, or navigating inconsistent design patterns—creates friction that reduces adoption and increases errors.
The Solution: This layer must be unified and low-friction. Whether it's a nurse checking on residents, an administrator reviewing occupancy reports, or a maintenance team member logging work orders, the user experience should feel cohesive and intuitive. This doesn't mean everything needs to be built by one vendor—it means the interfaces need to work together seamlessly.
Think of this like the workings of a modern car. You might have a Toyota engine, Michelin tires, and a Bose sound system, but when you sit in the driver's seat, everything feels like one integrated experience. The same principle applies to senior living technology.
The Middle Layer: Functional - Completely Composable
This is the cake itself—the substantial layer where different flavors can coexist. Just as a layercake can have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry layers that each contribute their unique taste while supporting the overall structure, your functional layer can combine best-in-class solutions for different purposes.
The Challenge: No single vendor can be best-in-class at everything. The company that makes the best nurse call system might not make the best dining management platform. The best electronic health record might not have the best family engagement tools.
The Solution: This is where true modularity shines. Each function—nurse call, medication management, dining services, family engagement, maintenance management—should be treated as a separate, swappable component. You should be able to choose the best solution for each specific need without being locked into a vendor's entire suite.
This layer is where you get to build your LEGO creation. Want to swap out your current dining management system for one with better dietary restriction tracking? You should be able to do that without replacing your entire technology stack. Need a more sophisticated fall detection system? Plug it in without disrupting your existing workflow management.
The Foundation Layer: Data Aggregation - Vendor Responsibility
Like the sturdy cake board that supports the entire layercake, this foundation layer must be solid and reliable. Everything else depends on its strength and stability.
The Challenge: Currently, when operators want to implement modular solutions, they often face a nightmare scenario: manually integrating data from multiple systems, cleaning inconsistent data formats, and trying to create meaningful reports across platforms. This complexity has pushed many operators back toward monolithic solutions, not because they're better functionally, but because the data integration burden is too high.
The Solution: This is the game-changer: data aggregation and cross-platform reporting must become the vendors' responsibility, not the operators'. Every application should contribute to a common data aggregation layer—think of it as a shared data lake where all your systems deposit their information in standardized formats.
Here's where generative AI becomes a crucial enabler. The technology now exists for vendors to automatically standardize, clean, and contribute their data to shared ecosystems. What once required massive custom integration projects can now be handled intelligently by AI systems that understand context, resolve data conflicts, and maintain consistency across platforms. For operators, this means AI-powered insights that draw from your entire technology stack, not just individual silos.
This isn't just about APIs (though those are important). It's about vendors taking ownership of ensuring their products contribute meaningfully to your organization's data ecosystem, powered by AI that makes this integration seamless and intelligent.
Why This Layercake Framework Changes Everything
This layercake approach addresses the core tension between modularity and usability that has limited adoption of composable architectures in senior living:
For Team Members: They get the unified, intuitive experience they need to do their jobs effectively. No more password fatigue, no more learning completely different interfaces for each function.
For Operators: You get the flexibility to choose best-in-class solutions for each specific need while maintaining operational efficiency. You can innovate in one area without disrupting your entire operation. And you get cross-domain analytics, allowing you to move toward proactive, personalized resident experiences.
For Vendors: Those who embrace this framework will thrive. Those who don't will find themselves increasingly isolated as operators demand better integration and data sharing capabilities.
Early Implementation Opportunities
As senior living operators begin to explore this layercake framework, the potential benefits become clear:
Top Layer Success: Teams can expect significantly less time switching between applications when unified interfaces are implemented
Middle Layer Flexibility: Operators will be able to swap functional modules without the operational disruption that traditionally comes with system changes
Foundation Layer Impact: When vendors take responsibility for data standardization, reporting accuracy should improve dramatically, and AI-powered insights will become possible across the entire technology ecosystem
The key insight? Rather than searching for the one perfect system, forward-thinking operators can build the perfect layercake from best-in-class ingredients.
The AI-Powered Future
The timing for this layercake framework couldn't be better. Generative AI is making the foundation layer not just possible, but powerful in ways we couldn't imagine even two years ago. Vendors can now build AI systems that automatically understand, standardize, and contribute data from their applications. Operators can leverage AI that draws insights from their entire technology ecosystem, identifying patterns and opportunities that would be impossible to spot manually.
This isn't theoretical—the technology exists today. The question is whether vendors will embrace their responsibility to make it work seamlessly, or whether they'll continue to push integration complexity onto their customers.
The Path Forward
For this layercake framework to succeed industry-wide, we need vendor accountability in the age of AI. We need to stop accepting "integration is the customer's responsibility" as an answer, especially when AI makes seamless integration more achievable than ever. We need to demand that vendors design their products to contribute to unified user experiences and AI-powered data ecosystems from day one.
The future of senior living technology isn't about finding the one system that does everything adequately. It's about creating a technology layercake where the best solutions for each function work together seamlessly, creating experiences that are both powerful and intuitive.
The LEGO analogy served us well for understanding modularity—but the layercake framework shows us how to build something that's not just functional, but beautiful and delicious too. Each layer has its purpose, but together they create something greater than the sum of their parts.