Design Lessons from Three Australian Dementia Support Facilities

Abstract

There is a significant increase in the number of people with dementia, and the demand for residential support facilities is expected to increase. Providing an appropriate living environment for residents with dementia, which can cater for their specific needs is crucial. Residential aged care design can impact the quality of life and wellbeing of the residents. In this investigation, three recently constructed dementia support facilities in Victoria, Australia are selected for evaluation. Through fieldwork observation, design evaluation and space syntax analysis, the aim of this investigation is to consider the design of these three facilities in the context of current evidence on how the built environment can best accommodate residents with dementia.

Characteristics of care methods for daily life disabilities in Alzheimer's type dementia that respect autonomy and independence

“…These methods have been devised to make people with dementia more easily aware of their environment. It is important for people with dementia, including Alzheimer's type dementia, to live in a supportive and therapeutic environment (Calkins, ; Chau et al, ). The World Health Organization′s () International Classification of Functioning states that mutual interaction between humans and their environment is important and it presents the importance of social models to improve the environment to overcome disorders that reduce life functions.…”

“…These methods have been devised to make people with dementia more easily aware of their environment. It is important for people with dementia, including Alzheimer's type dementia, to live in a supportive and therapeutic environment (Calkins, 2018;Chau et al, 2018). The World Health…”

Human Factors in Green Building: Building Types and Users’ Needs

“…The paper by Hing-wah Chau, Clare Newton, Catherine Mei Min Woo, Nan Ma, Jiayi Wang and Lu Aye [10] focused on the specific group of people with dementia. This paper investigated three recently constructed dementia support facilities in Victoria, using fieldwork observation, design evaluation and space syntax analysis.…”

Occupational Stress and Workplace Design

“…Based on self-reports of 267 participants in a survey, Tauber (2012) [69] concluded that connection to nature directly affects an individual's physical wellbeing and psychological wellbeing. Connection to nature may also be considered to be a positive stimuli to promote engagement and pleasure for people with dementia [70]. Many researchers [51,52,[58][59][60][61][62][71][72][73][74] have argued for the wellbeing benefits of connection to nature.…”