Dementia: Best Design Practices

How can we make the surrounding environment Dementia friendly? Colours need to contrast to ensure visibility within spaces and give a 3D enhancement to the environment. As the condition progresses for people living with Dementia, their eyesight can change.

Contrasting walls and floors, tables and chairs, and even sets of plates and bowls, ensure that everything is noticeable and recognisable.

Product

Avoid patterned and shiny flooring

It's important to keep the flooring design free of contrasting colours and patterns. Plainer, more simple floor designs are more suitable for Dementia inclusive environments. Patterned flooring can be perceived as changes in level or things to avoid and may lead to trips and falls.

Selecting floor designs with minimal shine, sparkle or reflectivity is beneficial as these elements may be perceived as a wet floor surface by someone with Dementia, disrupting their gait and raising the possibility of a slip.

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Tonal contrast between floors and walls

Guidance: BS 8300-2:2018 Design of an accessible and inclusive built environment. Buildings - code of practice states that Light Reflectance Values (LRVs) are used to assess visual contrast using the method of measurement detailed in BS 8493:2008+A1:2010.

Approved Document M (ADM) directly refers to colour and contrast in the definitions section, stating: ‘Contrast visually, when used to indicate the visual perception of one element of the building, or fitting within the building, against another means that the difference in light reflectance value between the two surfaces is greater than 30 points.’

Choose tonally consistent flooring designs

A large tonal contrast between the primary floor tone and secondary flecks should be avoided. Dementia patients could mistake the specks for pieces on the floor and try to pick them up. Flooring with slight tonal secondary flecks or a solid colour is preferred.

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Control the flow of traffic with door colours

Utilising different colours and tones for doors can help control the flow of entry to various rooms and zones within a facility used by Dementia patients.

To discourage use of a door to a restricted or staff only area, choose a colour that is a similar LRV to the surrounding walls.