Design implications in long-term care facilities for persons under 65 years of age
Sarah Langille
ARC621 | Spring 2020
The design of long-term care facilities reflects the needs of the elderly population that inhabit the institution, but a just-as-important population also calls these facilities home. Many other age groups inhabit these facilities that are overwhelmingly under-represented with their design. The nursing facility may be the home for persons under the typical age of a nursing home resident if circumstances have made it impossible for them to care for themselves and have no relatives to assist them. These people are typically admitted to government-run nursing homes and are mixed in along with the home’s traditional cohort.
This report focuses on how the design of typical nursing-home affect the quality of life for these individuals. It is important to understand that there is a large array of individuals that may find themselves in this situation. Individual conditions can range from autism to disabilities, cognitive impairment from accidents or disabilities related to mental health. Although all these conditions could require profoundly different design considerations, I would like to focus more generally on nursing home patients that are under the age of 65 years and how the effects of the nursing-home physical environment affects their quality of life.
