Ashley Hooper, commercial marketing manager at JHS, discusses how making informed choices about the colours, patterns, and shapes used in care home flooring can enhance wayfinding for residents living with dementia, boosting their independence, autonomy, and overall wellbeing
What can care home owners, developers, and designers do to promote occupants’ independence and wellbeing? The opportunities are endless, but limiting factors such as time, budgets, and capacity can mean simple design changes are more welcome than substantial structural renovations.
When designing these spaces, there is often a focus on making these spaces safer for vulnerable residents – by making design choices such as the use of non-slip flooring, accessible entrances and exits, and clean, hygienic furnishings that keep people safe. However, the use of flooring to foster wayfinding often goes overlooked.
The selection of certain colours, patterns, and shapes can help, or hinder, the wayfinding abilities and comfort levels of those living with dementia. Roughly 70 per cent of all care home residents in the UK have dementia, or some form of severe memory loss, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.1 Designing spaces that consider their specific needs, then, is crucial.
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