“Raise your hand if you are not aging.”
Dr. Upali Nanda opened her session, titled “From cognitive decline to brain health: The power of neuroscience-informed design,” at the Environments for Aging (EFA) Conference in Milwaukee, WI. The question was more than just an ice breaker to start a session. It set the mindset for the rest of the session. The audience included senior living architects, interior designers, developers, providers, researchers, OTs, PTs, nurses, and others, knew exactly that it was a proposition to a bigger idea that: Everyone is aging. Hence, the experience is not exclusive.
The EFA 2022 conference offered a wide range of topics that highlighted “the latest strategies and ideas for creating functional and attractive living environments that meet the needs of our aging population.”
To achieve healthy aging, individuals’ physical, mental, and social needs must be met. While those are true, deeper layers of physical, mental, and social needs must be unraveled, especially when looking at the needs through the environmental lens.
What are the environmental needs of our aging population?
In the following, I highlighted some lessons learned from sessions at EFA 2022:
1. Need for pleasant sonic environments
Session title: Sonic Treatments for Improving Resident Wellbeing in Memory Care Environments
Speakers:
Addie Abushousheh PhD, EDAC, Assoc. AIA (The Center for Health Design)
Jeff McSpadden (Composure)
Steve Lindsey NHA, MSW, BA (Garden Spot Communities)
We are surrounded by sound everywhere. However, have we ever thought of how does the combination of all sounds in our surroundings, known as sonic environments, can impact our wellbeing? Sound can be pleasant (or not), and it can impact our well-being. Though invisible, sound has power that brings people together. A coalition between the Center for Health Design, Composure, and Garden Spot Community conducted a study to examine whether certain sonic environments can improve senior living resident outcomes at the Meadow View Memory Support at Garden Spot Village in New Holland, PA. They created soundscapes in a memory care environment, referred to as sonic treatments, to be used during residents’ sleeping periods. Researchers have found positive feedback from the staff, who have seen improvements in the residents’ sleep quality. Sound is more than just an element of space or an avenue for entertainment, but it can be a critical tool to improve wellbeing, especially for older adults living in memory care environments.
2. Need for cognitively empowering environments
Session title: Cognitive Aging in Place: Designing Home Environments to Support People Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment
Speakers:
Herminia Machry PhD, EDAC, Assoc. AIA (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Raha Rastegar, M. Arch. (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Maureen Burke OTR (Emory University)
The built environment impacts our everyday activities engagement. For people living with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), the built environment can either cognitively support or challenge their memory, executive function, socialization, language, and socio-spatial function needed to do various tasks in their everyday lives. A research partnership between the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University offered a Cognitive Empowerment Program to “provide people with MCI and their care partners opportunities to be part of a lifestyle program to promote joy, purpose, health, and wellness.” Through surveys and home assessments, they identified the challenging tasks at home and the environmental features associated with the tasks. Some of the challenging tasks at home include difficulties following multi-steps or sequencing a task, task initiation, misplacing or losing items, poor ability to track schedules, decreased ability to focus or maintain attention, and getting lost in familiar places. With these challenges in mind, how does the design of the home environment support the cognitive needs of people with MCI to age in place? Some general considerations that can be helpful to support older adults with MCI cognitively are decluttering the space to minimize distractions, using visual elements to support easy recognition, minimalizing crowding and noise distractions, dedicating a visible and easily accessible place for frequently used items, and implementing open floor plans to connect social spaces physically and visually. Beyond these strategies, another important takeaway is to support joyful and easy tasks, such as gardening, walking outdoors, and doing arts to improve older adults’ wellbeing.
3. Need for enriched environments
Session title: From Cognitive Decline to Brain Health: The Power of Neuroscience-Informed Design
Speakers:
Upali Nanda, PhD, Assoc. AIA, EDAC, ACHE (HKS
Rebecca Soja Assoc. AIA, WELL AP, EDAC (HKS)
Grant Warner ALA, LEED AP (HKS)
Melissa Hoelting Assoc. AIA, WELL AP (HKS)
Not all abilities decline equally in the aging process. Older adults’ cognitive abilities are spread across the spectrum of cognitive health. In this session, the speakers encouraged the audience to shift their thinking from managing cognitive decline to promoting brain health. How do we promote brain health? It started from the concept of neurogenesis, which is the generation process of new neurons in the brain. With the right amount of complexity, the environment can initiate neurogenesis. New synapsis is formed when the human brain is engaged in a creative and engaging situation. Creating “enriched environments” through incorporating sensory, physical, cognitive, and social stimulation in the space can help preserve cognitive abilities (Download the report to read more). When designing senior living environments, think about the space elements that can enrich the experience. One interesting example was the doorknob, which was not just a tool to open the door and enter the space. Instead, think of a doorknob as a handshake with the building. How can the experience of handshaking the building be enriched sensorially, physically, cognitively, and socially? Different sensory cues can be incorporated to design for creating enriched environments, hence improving the learning and memory-making of the senior living residents.
Throughout my experience attending the EFA 2022, I learned new ways of seeing the needs of the aging population translated into environmental needs. Many of these needs are not exclusive to the aging population. I can see children, young adults, mothers, and all other population groups benefit from the impact created through pleasant sonic environments, cognitively empowering environments, and enriched environments.
At the end of the day, aging is the experience of all.
Shouldn’t design for aging mean design for all?
Design for all people, regardless of their age, gender, and ability, is a key contributor to communities’ health and well-being of communities. CADRE’s mission is aligned with the EFA community’s mission to create functional and attractive living environments. By fostering innovation and excellence in design through meaningful research and evaluation, CADRE is continuously looking for future coalitions and collaboration work for designing better environments for everyone.
