Dementia Care

Australian Journal of Dementia Care

June/July 2016 Vol 5 No 3

ome 80 years ago, the late great

Finnish architect Alvar Aalto said:

“Architecture cannot save the world,

but it can set a good example”.

Good architecture is more than fine art –

it is also an applied art that must suit the

physical, emotional and functional needs

of the users, while also inspiring the

human spirit. This awareness comes about

from a sharing of studies by architects,

psychologists, sociologists,

environmentalists and others.

After years of neglect or lack of

understanding, people with dementia

have finally been recognised as having

special needs that are not met within the

usual aged care facilities. Early

architectural designs inAustralia, mainly

developed since 1970, focused on issues

such as domestic character, social scale,

home-like familiarity and ‘wandering’

behaviours. Later designs explored the

benefits of multiple cueing. Aset of

research-based criteria supporting these

principles has now been identified by

Fleming

et al

(2012) to guide the design of

new facilities. Unfortunately many new

projects show little awareness of these

principles and are neglecting the chance to

develop settings that will enable residents

to use their residual abilities, and that will

also enhance the home’s dementia care

and activity programs, and the functional

aspects of the building.

Australian Government regulations up

to the early 1980s encouraged the design of

hospital-like buildings for aged care

residences. The gazetted regulations

concentrated on functional details and

equipment, making no reference to quality

of life issues. The terminology and

references were all medical. Dementia was

not addressed. People with dementia were

classed as mental patients and confined in

the feared and isolated asylums. These

replicated the international pattern of

being large and forbidding institutions

segregated from the community and

usually located outside the city limits.

Teaching programs

In 2012, as part of the NSW/ACT

Dementia Training Study Centre’s

undergraduate education focus, I was

asked to develop a course on ‘Designing

for Dementia’ for architectural design

students. The intention was to increase the

pool of empathetic designers aware of the

issues and relevant research on design for

people with dementia. It would build on

the research outcomes and the evidence

base already available, and on my

extensive experiences as an academic and

practitioner in aged care design.

The aimwas to develop a model

program for teaching architectural

students the issues involved in designing

for people with dementia, to base their

designs on research-based evidence, and

hopefully to produce new thinking. I have

been conducting the courses at the

University of Melbourne (2012 to 2015)

and Deakin University (2012) using the

following sessions to awaken an

awareness in students of the existing

knowledge and opportunities for its

application :

• The history of aged care design.

• The evolution of the design of buildings

for people with dementia and other

cognitive impairments.

• Anon-medical approach to building

design.

• Presentations by key professionals in the

field, including representatives of

Alzheimer’s Australia Vic, carers,

administrators, researchers and

experienced architectural practitioners.

• Site visits to some contemporary aged

care facilities.

• Research into established principles and

contemporary developments in

dementia design.

Valuable input was provided by

recognised dementia specialists and

architectural practitioners in the field. The

Designs on the future

Traditional and current solutions to dementia design are unlikely to be palatable to future

generations, says

Brian Kidd

. He reports on a successful teaching program for

architecture students aimed at increasing the pool of empathetic and dementia-aware

designers able to create innovative environments in the years ahead

Architecture student Queenie Chiu’s dementia-friendly building design proposed some

interesting ideas for community involvement, including a pet café (above). The drawing

below shows a view to the garden