Chris and Sally’s house – living with dementia tackles the issues of an ageing society through design principles which assist older people to ‘age in place’. A demonstration project implemented by the Building Research Establishment in partnership with Loughborough University and HLP shows in detail how evidence based design can help people living with dementia to retain their capacity and live safely and comfortably in their own homes for longer.
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Chris and Sally’s House is a demonstration project which forms part of the Building Research Establishment’s Innovation Park in Watford. Completed in 2018 the demonstration project represents the culmination of four years research into Design for Dementia.
DESIGN FOR DEMENTIA
The demonstration project is based on the design principles described in ‘Design for Dementia – A Guide’ co-authored by Bill Halsall and Dr Rob McDonald of Liverpool John Moores University (2015). A key element in the development of the design principles has been a participative design approach in partnership with the Liverpool based, Dementia Action Alliance and the service reference user’s forum (SURF). HLP developed participatory methods to facilitate direct co-design with people living with dementia. The main premise of ‘Design for Dementia- A Guide’ is that approximately 70% of people living with dementia live in their own homes and use the same facilities and centres as everybody else. Design for Dementia can help people living in their own homes to sustain their capacity for longer and maintain their quality of life as members of the community. This principle extends to the design of the public realm and to publicly accessible buildings as well as the domestic environment.
THE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Chris & Sally’s House demonstrates how a typical 2-up 2-down cottage could be converted and adapted to deliver the key objectives of helping people to age-in-place, sustaining their capacity and independence for longer through design in accordance with the principles described in ‘Design for Dementia’. The demonstration project has been delivered through a partnership including the BRE, HLP and Loughborough University, who have provided much of the research and evidence base which underpins the project. Many other stakeholders, suppliers and researchers have become involved in the venture.
‘Chris & Sally’ are ‘personas’ developed by Loughborough University based on their research into the experience of dementia and the support systems which can aid people living with dementia. The House has been designed through an intense attention to detail covering every aspect of the needs of people living with dementia to respond to the needs and aspirations of Chris & Sally.
However, it also aspires to be a comfortable home rather than an ‘institution’. A house in which anyone would be happy to live.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
Chris & Sally’s House therefore, is a multi-disciplinary and multi-stranded collaborative project for which HLP, as architects and interior designers, as well as key partners, have facilitated a ‘bridge’ between academic research and practical implementation.
HLP have responded to three briefs:
1. A Demonstration Project
How can design help people ‘living with dementia’ to retain their capacity, ‘age in place’ and ‘live safely and comfortably for longer’.
2. A Research Platform
To carry out ongoing evidence-based research into ‘living with dementia’.
3. A ‘Learning Tool’
To assist people ‘living with dementia’, their carers, developers and institutions in the care, health and housing sectors to understand how new housing design can be improved to cater for ‘ageing in place’.
CONCLUSION
The broad objective of the Chris & Sally’s House project is to create the opportunity for a win-win-win outcome as a response to the impact of the ‘dementia epidemic’.
A win for people living with dementia – living in their own homes safely and comfortably for longer.
A win for family, friends and carers – easing the burden of care and the stress of a move to an extra care or residential care facility.
A win for the health and care system - potentially reducing the pressures caused by the projected exponential increase in demand for dementia care services.
Housing, Health and Social Care agencies are increasingly interested in the potential of the principles and practice demonstrated through Chris & Sally’s House as one approach to easing the burden of care presented by an ageing society.