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ROUND TABLE REVIEW: DESIGN FOR DEMENTIA NETWORK 2: CREATING SUPPORTIVE SPACES FOR DEMENTIA CARE
AN INCLUSIVE MIX This second meeting of the new inclusivity design network saw Amtico host a mix of voices from specialist design, healthcare, and the construction industry
design community with consultation, training and research. The Design for Inclusivity Network could be a more focused addition to the debate, allowing specifi ers, designers and dementia experts to exchange information and challenges with the construction and manufacturing sector to disseminate design-focused best practice; and even potentially have the combined weight and infl uence to successfully lobby Government. At the second meeting, the broad mix of designers, expert academics, plus care providers, discussed practical solutions to overcome current obstacles. The importance of fl ooring and colour for spaces for people with dementia were key signposts in the debate, as was research. Specialist architects as well as research experts helped inform debate on the state of UK practice, and representatives from the care sector demonstrated past and current efforts to integrate research and design.
The debate: holistically tailored The fi rst session kicked off by following up on some of the 2024 meeting’s key recommendations on improving design for dementia, to anchor the discussion and provide continuity. The round table chair James Parker cited testimony from Robert MacDonald, architect and independent consultant, who combined user and design experience, having Parkinson’s Dementia, saying it was vital to focus on designing for each user where possible: “It’s vitally important that all designers become more aware of the spatial diffi culties that we live with, 24 hours a day.”
Another previous attendee bringing his own lived experience to designing facilities was Rob Hayles of Citizens with Experience. He agreed individualised design was the elusive goal, with a resonant comment: “When you’ve met one person with dementia,
you’ve met one person with dementia.” He added: “there are commonalities, transferables, but we must understand and design for the differences.”
The second meeting took this discussion further – Fiona Walsh of DDS architects agreed tailored design was challenging: “We have such a mountain to climb to get it right, even the fundamental layout and plan.” She advocated a move back to the “early 1990s” baseline design approach established for achieving disability inclusivity; “we need to identify a baseline we can build from, rather than try and eat the elephant in one go, and get to perfection.” But the overarching factor was that design for people with dementia needed to include focus on all sensory impacts, not just mitigating individual risk factors. This was emphasised by Fiona Walsh of DDS: “ The whole environment impacts; the noise, the reverberation, we don’t just engage with our eyes, it’s all of our senses.”
Architects & education
Gemma Bottomley is an experienced designer of care facilities and retirement living at Watson Batty Architects, but she also brings personal experience, having lost a family member in 2024 to early onset Alzheimer’s. This informs her pursuit of better environments, as she admitted candidly: “Seeing the kinds of homes that are out there and how shocking they are was fundamentally what pushed me to want to champion good design.” Bottomley is one of many designers who has benefi tted from the specialist design for dementia courses run by the DSDC at the University of Stirling, exploring the “complex combination of the individual, dementia and the environment,” and promoting design as a “non-pharmacological intervention.”
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF SEPTEMBER 2025
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