You really got to hand it to architect Matthias Hollwich for zeroing in on the needs of a segment of the population that doesn’t have much say when it comes to matters of architecture and design: the elderly.

In an interview with Fast Company back in September, Hollwich, who co-founded Architizer and created New Aging, a much lauded international conference that tackled aging and architecture, said something that really stuck with me: "I believe that sustainability (saving the planet) and designing for an aging society are the two biggest topics we as designers have to tackle in our lifetime.”

There are a total of 10 architecture firms, including Hollwich’s own, HWKN, involved in the creation of BOOM’s eight distinct neighborhoods spread across a 100-acre plot. Several of the firms such as Diller Scofidio + Renfro, LOT-EK, and J. Mayer H. are notably green-minded. The international rooster is rounded out by Rudin Donner Design, Joel Sanders Architect, Arakawa + Gins, SADAR + VUGA, and L2 Tsionov-Vitkon. San Francisco’s Surfacedesign is overseeing BOOM’s landscape design.

There’s a heck of a lot more than housing — 300 residences will be built during the project’s initial phase — planned at BOOM where the mission is “inclusion, not seclusion; about living, not retiring.” There will be nightclubs, multiple restaurants and cafes, a hotel, wellness center, sports complex, event center, something called a “healing funhouse,” and much more. One of the residential areas designed by Joel Sanders Architect called the Commons features “flexible unit layouts [that] accommodate a spectrum of gay lifestyles including two made famous in iconic television and film — Roommates ('The Golden Girls') and Partners With Children ('The Birdcage')." Brilliant.

Still, BOOM will have to work extra hard to win the right kind of socially-focused, culturally-savvy resident. It's not nestled in the resurging hipness of Palm Springs, rather, it's on the fringe, in a community called Rancho Mirage, where sleepy golf courses and stucco-covered condos aren't a huge draw. For BOOM to succeed in luring the right brand of design-enthusastic retirees, it will likely have to draw them out of big cities where they have access to urban amenities like world-class restaurants and well-funded museums.

And while catering to active older people with non-traditional draws like a "rooftop disco" — insert visions of Cocoon in the desert — there are some issues with designing what's essentially a theme park for gay retirees. Healthy, young tourists likely won't want to spend their vacation staying at a retirement home, even if they're welcome, and locals might not want to do their shopping at a nursing home, where extensive healthcare facilities — however well-designed — are so prevalent. There's also the possibility that many potential straight residents who are interested in the design won't feel comfortable in a community driven by gay culture.