Chrissy’s presentation explored how ideas about good practice in designing for dementia and later life are translated, and the opportunities and challenges for people-centred design that occur during a building project. It drew on data from an ESRC funded study ‘Buildings in the Making’ that followed different building projects for older people, focusing on care homes and extra care housing, using qualitative, ethnographic methods including observation,
interviews and documentary analysis. The presentation examined how older people with dementia are imagined by architects and other members of the design and construction team, and the extent to which consultation with people with dementia takes place. It also discussed how good practice in designing for dementia can come into tension with different regulatory requirements, financial constraints, the competing requirements of different stakeholders, as well as tensions between promoting independence and concerns for safety. Finally, the presentation considered who advocates for the older person with dementia in the design process, and how this knowledge may be lost or undermined by wider factors relating to models of commissioning and procurement.
Please watch the video below for Chrissy's full presentation