Australia’s aged care sector is on the cusp of a new era of design. The days of institutional settings – with confusing, identical corridors and vast chair-lined rooms – are officially over. 

When it comes to establishing the global standard on what makes accommodation work for people living with dementia, The Dementia Centre has played a key role, bringing design experts together from across the world, to inform and shape design knowledge.

People with dementia are at the heart of our dementia design schools. And they come at a pivotal moment in Australia with the development of the federal government’s new Residential Aged Care Accommodation Framework. The research and lived experiences that inform our schools are reflected in the standards being considered by government.    

The Dementia Design School helps providers understand and navigate the new standards and their underlying principles when collaborating with architects and interior designers. This presents a unique opportunity to reconfigure, retrofit and refurbish care spaces to be more enabling.

The approach that guided the construction of our first cottage-style aged care home in 1995 has now become the benchmark for innovation in design.

Disseminating these carefully developed ideas is The Dementia Design School’s goal, whether it’s contributing to the National Aged Care Design Principles and Guidelines or sharing the research and practice experience on dementia-friendly principles and features through the school’s workshops.

The principles and guidelines will ensure that residents of aged care homes live in a smaller homelike atmosphere, with access to the outdoors and interaction with the broader community.