Creative care ideas
A new generation of elderly care facilities is being developed in Japan to create spaces that can enhance mental wellbeing as well as offer physical care. The country has one of the oldest populations in the world and care is increasingly moving away from people being looked after in families and towards day care centres and residential homes.
To meet their needs, architects are designing facilities that encourage interactions between users, including integrating nurseries to help foster bonds between different generations.
In an article on the ArchDaily website, Miwa Negoro writes: “This situation presents a profound, growing architectural challenge: How can care environments not only accommodate medical and nursing needs but also foster individual dignity, comfort, and human and nonhuman interactions? The ideal design of elderly care facilities balances clinical functionality with the nuances of daily life – for the elderly themselves, for those experiencing challenges and difficulties such as dementia, for their families and for the caregivers who support them.”
The article identifies three design principles: bringing nature inside, encouraging social interaction and supporting residents, visitors and staff. And it highlights nine projects which have been created using this approach, showing how architecture “shapes… the very experience of ageing”.