Research shows that the architecture itself can be caring and have a positive influence on people’s well-being. The key in this context is to create a human-scaled architecture, as we design Olsrød’s nursing home as a green inclusive village with a homely atmosphere.
Village for elderly with cognitive impairment
A new living and treatment centre for aging people with different cognitive impairments should be focused on the needs of residents and their relatives. The centre must contain well-known elements from the residents’ everyday life, which can create a feeling of security and contribute to the residents’ control over their everyday experiences. It therefore places a greater demand on the buildings not being characterized as an institution, but as a small society. The village should include a multitude of features constantly distributed between the private residences and the social common areas, which are tied together by urban and natural spaces. The built environment in itself should facilitate the residents’ gradual transition from being “well-functioning” to being care-dependant, and provide the residents with an experience of daily stability and normalcy in an often-confusing new reality. A person with dementia will experience being confronted with a basic sense of being lost, with a sense of mental homelessness, where she will constantly search for something recognizable in her surroundings: this is why it is essential for the Olsrød nursing home to provide its users with friendly, clearly-arranged spaces.
