Perspective Sketch: Perceived view from upper north building window into site.
1:200 Context Plan with trace overlay depicting perceived and experienced conditions.
HEalth Issue and BAckground:
Almost 70% of residents at Blenheim lodge suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. This condition can cause cognitive decline, memory loss, confusion, depression, and an increase in isolation (1). Gardens have been shown to have a positive effect on people suffering from this disease (2). Community gardens especially can help with social engagement and reduce some early symptoms of Alzheimer’s (3).
Evoking nostalgia in those suffering with dementia is another well researched strategy to improve dementia related symptoms and cognitive decline (4). Alzheimer’s greatly effects short term memory loss, gardening and familiar chores can often help surface long term memories.
Concept Statement:
I hope this garden design will immerse isolated residents with the outside community, whether watching from their window or actively participating in program. A comfortable space that can play a role in cognitive development.
Resident profile stats for 2021/2022. Blenheim Lodge statistics (left) and BC averages (right). Source: https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/quickfacts/location/75833/ Canadian Institute for Health Information
References:
1. National Institute on Aging. “Cognitive Health and Older Adults”. Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/cognitive-health-and-older-adults. Last updated: 2020
2. Murroni, Veronica, Raffaele Cavalli, Andrea Basso, Erika Borella, Chiara Meneghetti, Andrea Melendugno, and Francesca Pazzaglia. “Effectiveness of therapeutic gardens for people with dementia: A systematic review.” International journal of environmental research and public health18, no. 18 (2021): 9595.
3. Noone, Sarah, and Nicholas Jenkins. “Digging for Dementia: Exploring the experience of community gardening from the perspectives of people with dementia.” Aging & Mental Health22, no. 7 (2018): 881-888.
4. Ismail, Sanda, Gary Christopher, Emily Dodd, Tim Wildschut, Constantine Sedikides, Tom A. Ingram, Roy W. Jones, Krist A. Noonan, Danielle Tingley, and Richard Cheston. “Psychological and mnemonic benefits of nostalgia for people with dementia.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease65, no. 4 (2018): 1327-1344.
Concept Development:
Early concept development had programing and design solutions with a heavy focus on cognitive exercise and social engagement. The element of social engagement was largely explored through the use of playgrounds as well as community gardens.
Program and Concept Brainstorm.
Coordinating simple shapes of paving, planters, and plants was an early strategy to address cognitive exercise.
Continued design process led to ideas of vertical views for indoor residents. It also resulting in the final design strategy which was focusing on familiarity and nostalgia to address cognitive exercise and other dementia related symptoms. This nostalgia garden would be woven throughout a more private loop and a more public community garden space.
Design Process: Exploring concept of vertical views for indoor multisensory experienceContinued exploration of vertical butterfly garden structures.Exploration of sunken window viewsDesign process for enclosed ‘car-like’ seatingA visualization of wayfinding transitional area between community garden and nostalgia garden. This incorporated the mail box entrance, two sided planter beds, and the tool shedExperiential visualizations of nostalgia elements including the tool and garden shed.
Form Interations:
Various iterations of form took place as a result of program adjusts and site constraints, and dementia specific design considerations.
Main design constraints and considerations for dementia:
Circular paths
Wayfinding
Excluding dead ends or gates
Using planting or other subtle barriers to redirect people.
Repeating patters
Consistent and distinct paths using high contrast between path and path edge.
1:100 Design Plan. Nearly finalized design plan
Space visualizations and Perspectives:
Rough perspective from main entrance looking out to lawn and nostalgia gardenRough perspective looking out over community garden and gathering paceVisualization of early planting expression.1:100 Rough draft planting plan
Nostaligia Garden: final drawings
1:100 Plan of Nostalgia Garden1:100 planting plan with significant program zones
A series of planting palettes for various significant spaces were developed.
1:100 Section of Nostalgia Garden. Facing the main entrance.Digitized Perspective: View from resident’s window above the main entrance overlooking the gardens.
Additional References For Design Conserdations:
Motealleh, Parinaz, Wendy Moyle, Cindy Jones, and Karine Dupre. “The Impact of a Dementia-Friendly Garden Design on People With Dementia in a Residential Aged Care Facility: A Case Study.” HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal15, no. 2 (2022): 196-218.
Mitchell, Lynne, Elizabeth Burton, Shibu Raman, Tim Blackman, Mike Jenks, and Katie Williams. “Making the outside world dementia-friendly: design issues and considerations.” Environment and planning B: planning and design30, no. 4 (2003): 605-632.
Impaired vision is a highly impactful imposition to live with. Not only is the act of seeing so integral in culture and society to the point where it is directly equated with perception and comprehension itself, but the impairment or loss of this sense is something most of us will have to deal with eventually. Given how poignant and (mostly) inevitable this issue is, it is surprising that more spaces are not designed taking into consideration those who are vision-impaired. Many outdoor spaces especially, are so difficult to navigate for those without sight, that they are entirely reliant on someone else to guide them around. This becomes especially pressing when vision impairment is compounded by the loss of other faculties, as is the case in the elderly who experience dementia exacerbated by the inability to visually orient themselves.
“I was with my cousin having lunch and he went off to go back home and I was in the garden and I just could not place myself. And I said to (sic), in a loud voice, ‘I hope somebody will come and fetch me for tea this afternoon, I don’t think I know where I am’. […]”
(Dorothy, excerpt from Lawrence et al. 2009)
The elderly are not the only affected demographics, as children and working-age adults are also impacted by the difficulties associated with being unable to see or see well in a sighted world.
Thus, the primary values foregrounded in this park redesign are as follows
Agency
Independence
Meaningful engagement with designed spaces
part 1A
site documentation
Map showing location of the site relative to the rest of Vancouver (Modified from Google Earth image)Sketched notes of the site, marking down some of the sensory experiencesQuick initial sketch section exploring the experienced perceptions of slope, before retrieving topographical dataQuick and rough calculations on the heights of some significant trees at the sitePhotos taken at the site of some features of the park. Photos include documentation of trees, their bark, and the moss thereon. Also included are the houses at the sides, the little ankle-twisting traps left by puppy-guerrillas, the views of English Bay and North Vancouver, and finally the memorial plaques on benches.Photos taken upon revisiting the site at ~01:30 at low tide, showing the expanse of sand revealed by the absent water, the view of the site from sea level below, and the inhabitants of the surrounding area, including echinoderms, crustaceans, and an apparently insomniac heron, who nearly gave me a heart attack.Cube diagram of a portion of the park, organising the species, experiences, and phenomenaFirst simple plan depicting the site as it is, drawn at 1:100
parts 1B-1C
concept and development
Early sketched concepts of features that could cater to a visually impaired experience of “view”, most of the memorial plaques talked about the view, and the site itself seemed built to facilitate enjoying it, so the question was naturally raised, “how does one translate ‘the view’ for those who can’t view?”Outline notes for ideas of different sensory elements catering to those with limited vision, or none at allAxes of the site, along with means of non-visually orienting oneself along those axes, roughly visualised to guide the design processFirst main concept that makes use of a non-Aristotelian sense (i.e. not sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste) to help orient visitors. This idea was intended to gently slope northwards, and the sensation of elevation change would help visitors orient themselves along the park’s y-axisIteration on the concept, extending the mound forms to meet the edge of the pathBrainstorming interactive elements for the visually impaired, such as bright paths with dark borders, windchimes, wooden and metal noisemakers, wind through bamboo, and ornate seating to tactilely experienceBright metal bells in the shape of cartoon fly agaric for whimsicality, the bright reflective metal would help those visually impaired to discover the bells, and the temperature and material would encourage striking them to hear a noise
Design experiment laying out a totally new path and completely changing the concept, retaining nothing from the original siteRough conceptual sketch of what a path down to sea level might look likeLaying out more trace paper over the rejected concept, and experimenting on iterations on the ramp idea, using a length of string, which was measured out to be a 1:100 scaled length of the distance a slope requires to stay gentleNotes on using resting points with sensory plantings, and sound and ground texture qualities to inform visually impaired visitors of the transition to more hazardous terrainSketched sections of the switchbacks, with the wind chime to guide people back to shoreSketched perspective of the switchback conceptTracing out the patterns in markerUltimately the idea had to be abandoned as the number of switchbacks required was always simply unfeasibleConcept of a plan involving a terraced park, waterfalls, and obscuring foliage, with steel and wooden wind chimes for directionIt was only upon starting a 1:200 model that it became apparent that this idea would not workLiterally and figuratively going back to the drawing board and making a 1:100 topographical model of the site, to reexamine and reframe the existing conditionsExperimenting with freely creating topographic formsExperimenting with new path formsConcept sketch of what an opening in a tall dense hedge planting would appear like to someone only capable of perceiving light and darkSomeone with blurry vision, only able to differentiate blocks of contrasting colour, might still be able to vividly experience bright flowers such as particularly floriferous cultivars of rhododendronsThe veritable conspiracy board which is taped up above my desk for visibility, thus the project is literally hanging over my headVery first initial concept sketch of the “rooms” ideaDeciding to go digital for the final round of model-making: quickly modelling the benches in real size and relation to get a feel for their spacing and form3D rendered draft of the “rooms” concept, with benches and planters, and with distinct spaces created by tall dividing plantingsOpenings and obscurings between different “rooms”Wider angle showing the Summer and Autumn Rooms, with the Winter Room obscured
Potential plant choices or avoidances
final product
Final base plan of the sitePlanting plan overlayPlanting palate for the proposed additionsSketch diagramming how the sound mirror non-visually captures the “view” of the bayThe giant sound mirrors of RAF Denge served as inspiration for the concept of using sound to translate a view (https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/166)Section of the Summer RoomSection of the Summer RoomPerspective which attempts to capture a non-visual experience of the Autumn RoomPerspective of the Summer Room
Foster, S., Duvall, C., & Powell, J. (1992). Adaptive Gardening Techniques for the Visually Impaired. Portland: Oregon State University Extension Service.
Hussein, H. (2010). Using the sensory garden as a tool to enhance the educational development and social interaction of children with special needs. Support for Learning, 25-31.
Hussein, H. (2012). Experiencing and Engaging Attributes in a Sensory Garden as Part of a Multi-Sensory Environment. Journal of Special Needs Education, 38-50.
Krzeptowska-Moszkowicz, I., Moszkowicz, Ł., & Porada, K. (2021). Evolution of the Concept of Sensory Gardens in the Generally Accessible Space of a Large City: Analysis of Multiple Cases from Kraków (Poland) Using the Therapeutic Space Attribute Rating Method. Sustainability.
Lawrence, V., Murray, J., ffytche, D., & Banerjee, S. (2009). “Out of sight, out of mind”: a qualitative study of visual impairment and dementia from three perspectives. International Psychogeriatrics, 511-518.
Nakamura, K., Otomo, A., Maeda, A., Kikuchi, S., Motohashi, Y., Tanaka, M., . . . Yamamoto, M. (1999). Evaluation of complex activities in daily living of elderly Japanese with visual impairment. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 123-129.
Percival, J., Hanson, J., & Osipovic, D. (2006). A positive outlook? The housing needs and aspirations of working age people with visual impairments. Disability and Society, 661-675.
Siu, K. M. (2013). Accessible park environments and facilities for the visually impaired. Facilities, 590-609.
Zajadacz, A., & Lubarska, A. (2019). Sensory gardens in the context of promoting well- being of people with visual impairments in the outdoor sites. International Journal of Spa and Wellness, 3-17.
Zajadacz, A., & Lubarska, A. (2020). Sensory gardens as places for outdoor recreation adapted to the needs of people with visual impairments. Studia Periegetica, 25-43.
1:100 Form Iteration1:100 Geometric Form Plan1:100 Form Iteration1:100 Final Plan.
Experiential Details:
Rough Perspective Visualization: View from Front door into Nostalgia Garden.Rough Perspective Visualization: Community Garden looking towards road.Rough Visualization Perspective: Planting expression. View towards front entrance in Nostalgia Garden.Design Process: Exit of to Nostalgia Garden.Rough Perspective Visualization: Facing East in Nostalgia GardenConcept development: Vertical View Structures for a focus on indoor residents.View from low windows planting design process (After on Left. Before on Right)Concept Development: Vertical View StructuresRough Visualization and Concept Development West View of Nostalgia Garden
