Peter Moran, director, Todd Architects, looks at how well considered design and the use of light, colour and scale can promote wellbeing and enhance independence and quality of life in people with dementia
According to the Social Care Institute for Excellence, a person with dementia is much more likely to become withdrawn because they feel isolated.1In the past, these feelings of isolation would have perhaps been exacerbated by a tendency to build assisted living and care developments in remote locations that are disconnected from local communities, family and friends. However, as our understanding of dementia increases, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that people with dementia should be able to continue to live as independently as possible and to engage in the wider social and economic life of a community.
It is therefore our duty to create dementia friendly and care housing that is fully integrated into a neighbourhood and to use design to enable people with a care need to continue to live as independently as possible. It is also recognised that well considered, effective and holistic design can have a positive impact on wellbeing, while also providing safe, therapeutic and pleasant places to live.
The Croft in Newtownabbey is a state of the art supported living development that has been specifically designed for people living with early stage dementia. The Croft is intended to function as a village community, which includes a central social hub where communal facilities are located. The hub is linked via four internal ‘streets’ to clusters of six apartments or ‘communities’, each of which has its own shared social spaces and benefits from shared private road access.
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