Evidence-based design as a process for designing a health supportive environment at care facilities for elderly with dementia

Dementia is a worldwide public health problem that is categorised as a pivotal priority by the World Health Organization. Elderly people with dementia have very specific needs and strongly depend on the design of the physical environment to get the sensory stimuli they need to support their health and well-being. In Denmark, 60–80% of elderly people over the age of 65 living in a care facility have advanced dementia. At the same time, very few of the existing Danish care facilities are designed to meet the needs of this particular group. This paper concerns the challenges of creating a set of general guidelines and a real life 1:1 demonstration project of a light-filled green space at a care facility for elderly people with dementia. The goal is a health-supportive space with which the elderly people can engage as an integral part of their everyday lives, combining daily care with exposure to natural stimuli and a social living environment. Evidence-based design is proposed as a model for the design process encompassing the interdisciplinary project team, the various stakeholders and all the steps from evidence collection to programming, design, construction and evaluation of the space. The contribution of this paper is a step-by-step presentation of the process highlighting its advantages. Furthermore, challenges of the model and its methods are put forward in the discussion.