Dementia care environments

After many years of strategic development work, Simeon Care for the Elderly  has completed their new dementia care home. One of the many features of the new multimillion-pond care home is the carefully designed zoning plan of the site, which maximises resident safety and well being in the park-like gardens. This achieved by a well designed network of pathways, activity and resting areas, natural screens and concealed barriers that provide a “safe home route” no matter where you go. The hard and soft landscaping were developed in collaboration with Chalfont Design and Camphill Architects.

This strategy of “interest drawn” meandering is equally reflected in the room programme of the extensive common areas in the main house, grouped around a semi-open dining kitchen for informal breaks and participatory meal preparation and culinary activities. Quiet zones with garden rooms and internal planting areas allow relaxing nature proximity throughout the seasons. Folding doors open out to terraces and patios on warm days with vistas over the Dee valley into Royal Deeside.

Strengthening sensory experiences in the immediate environment nurtures our soul; reminding us of our close relationship with nature, at an age when our senses can fail us, is reassuring and gratifying.