TCD Hosts Workshop on Designing Homes For People with Dementia

Posted on: 09 July 2013

Building homes and retrofitting community dwellings for people with dementia was the focus of a workshop recently hosted by Trinity College Dublin. The Dementia & Home Design workshop was held to present preliminary findings from research being conducted by Living with Dementia Programme and TrinityHaus.

Preliminary findings from a review undertaken of research studies and guidance documents on the topic of home design for dementia were presented at the workshop. Results emerging from a series of in-depth interviews with key stakeholders working in the area were also presented.

This collaborative study is being undertaken on behalf of the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD) at the National Disability Authority (NDA) and is focusing on the design of housing for people with dementia from a Universal Design approach – the design of spaces that can be readily accessed and used by everyone, regardless of age, size, ability or disability.

The project will lead to the development of new national guidelines to underpin the future design of new houses and retrofitting of existing houses for people with dementia using Universal Design principles. The guidelines will potentially help people with dementia to remain living in their own homes and communities safely and securely for as long as possible, according to Associate Professor Suzanne Cahill from TCD’s Living with Dementia programme.

The project is engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including people with dementia and their family caregivers to ensure that the research, recommendations and design guidance will address the actual needs of people living in the community with dementia, along with the needs of family members.

Speaking about the research, Associate Professor Suzanne Cahill from Trinity’s Living with Dementia programme, commented: “The importance of designing purpose-built or retrofitting residential long-stay care and specialist care units for people with dementia has been long recognised. The design and retrofitting of general domestic housing for people with dementia has been hugely overlooked, even though this is where the majority of people with dementia live. The home environment poses a challenge for many people with dementia and architectural design, interior design and technological solutions is a promising approach to address the challenges posed.

“The new national guidelines for home design will complement existing CEUD publications Building for Everyone – A Universal Design Approach and Universal Design Homes for Ireland as well as current regulations in relation to home design, and the wealth of guidance available on designing for specific needs. The guidelines will encourage developers, designers, builders, and building managers to be innovative and think creatively about solutions that meet the needs of people with dementia and support them to remain living in their community and continue with the activities of everyday life that they most value.”