Shaping Interior Space to Support The Eden Alternative in Senior Living

Shaping Interior Space to Support The Eden Alternative in Senior Living

Communities for senior living and eldercare are as varied as the people and neighborhoods they serve. From an operations and care partners' perspective, there are several different care philosophies, each with their own strengths. These programs and guidelines can shape everything from interpersonal relationships to architecture, and everything in between, with a consistent character.

Designing for Eden

By adhering to this caregiving and care receiving philosophy, the senior living community can have a unified and respectful approach to the heart and culture of the home. The Eden Alternative is essentially a series of techniques that can be adopted in any existing or new space; because it is not necessarily driven by the shape of the architecture it is easily embraced with a little training, in any setting where people take care of one another.

However, shaping architectural and interior design stories in innovative ways around the Principles of the Eden Alternative ensures that the physical community serves as a framework to support the person-centered, collaborative nature of care. Eden’s core foundation is based on what they refer to as the three “plagues”: loneliness, helplessness, and boredom, and eliminating each. How can we design spaces that support the goals of the program?

Form must follow function; design of the spaces that enclose the human habitat must reflect the movement an activity within, if the eldercare community is to be effective and efficient in its delivery of care.


The solution to inclusion – eliminating loneliness

Loneliness is as unacceptable as it is deadly. Loving and continued companionship with care partners, fellow residents, staff, and pets is not just preferred, it is essential. Good design encourages interaction. This can be achieved post-Covid with a detailed approach to space planning, social distancing and the use of cohorts and social bubbles.

An example is when using exercise and movement as a driver to create social groups, it is important that the spaces incorporate features to be universally accessible. Everyone’s physical skill sets are different, but the ability to use the same space with friends is crucial. A walk on an outdoor path around the community on a beautiful day, for example, is a wonderful way to strengthen relationships; but is the path lacks sufficient seating, or something to hold such as rounded-rail low fencing or bollards, a resident may be reluctant to admit that they are afraid to start the walk, for fear of not being able to finish, and therefore misses the opportunity for social connection. 

The design of social and amenity spaces should encourage residents to “see and be seen”. Seating plans around cafes with chairs facing outward encourages people-watching and visual interaction.  Dining areas can have both centrifugal and centripetal seating to support differing preferences for intimate experiences and for those who prefer unpredictable interactions to chance passers-by. Safe spacing and social distancing can be created with visually unobtrusive design elements that appear as features, not barriers.

Design done right, examines the core causes of desired behaviors and shapes space to encourage it.  Interior spaces can be created in ways that bring people together.

Yearning to be useful – eliminating helplessness

In traditional senior living communities, schedules are dictated, rigid, and predictable. There is no room for preferences, and care is one-sided. This leads to a feeling of helplessness and disrespects the humanity of the individual. Room to mentor and teach, to walk the dog, to tend a budding garden or care for a friend is a fundamental part of being human.

One design solution is to foresee spaces in a wide variety of sizes, forms, shapes and functions, engineered to support maximum flexibility, sprinkled throughout the community. This gives the care partners and activity directors the freedom to create an infinite number of unique experiences tailored to individuals’ specific wants and needs. A single space could become a woodworking shop, flower arranging nook, retail store, fireside lounge, British pub or tea room, or even a temporary World Juniors hockey-watching lounge every December.

Designing each space with the appropriate power, plumbing, variety of lighting, storage, flooring and wall surfaces, acoustic values and flexible furnishings creates a space that can support a wide variety of activities. This level of specificity requires experienced designers who understand the requirements of a multitude of uses and can design to those diverse requirements, invisibly and without overlap, in a warm, attractive and cost-effective way, to support the multitude of decisions and preferences each personality will bring to the senior living community.

Value in variety – eliminating boredom

In an Eden community, each day is different from the next; each resident joining the community, and every new care partner and staff member, adds a unique dimension to its social fabric. Change and variety, by the very nature of the Eden model of care, is the only predictable constant. 

Boredom and meaningless activity corrode the human spirit. We’ve learned that to create an interesting and fulfilling environment that supports the unexpected and unpredictable, in a way that feels safe and meaningful, it is best achieved by sparking the senses to subconsciously retrieve pleasant memory which manifests itself as an inexplicable feeling of well-being. In this way, new and different stimuli are interesting but not jarring – they feel new, but unconsciously safe and familiar.

This is achieved in several ways. Some examples include reinterpreting recognizable features of local colloquial architecture, meandering circular paths through nature in all seasons and at all times of the day, using specific plants to attract local birds to enhance the outdoor soundscape, modern interpretations of familiar music, baking blondies in the café and the smell of buttered popcorn on movie nights.

These features feel familiar and comfortable, even if the stimuli are new, and engenders confidence. Confidence and comfort are the bedrocks to growth, and the Eden philosophy of unplanned experiences tempered with familiar sensory stimuli creates the optimum environment for growth.

As designers, we have the beautiful privilege of assisting in
the beginnings of
the process of
the becoming of
a place.

Creating a community corresponding to the Eden Alternative philosophy is a never-ending process. Designing senior living and eldercare communities with Eden in mind creates a place that supports the needs of each resident and care partner to interact, develop close relationships, enjoy interesting and meaningful activities and support the evolving needs of each person living there. Even the smallest details need to be considered, so the care partners never have to say: ‘no’ to a resident. This is a human habitat, not a workplace where people happen to live. The Eden Alternative creates a framework for a warm and inviting setting, where care partners and residents become like family.

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Christine brings over 20 years of experience working in the design industry, specifically in senior living, multifamily and geriatric healthcare design. She strives to create environments in which others can healthfully and happily live their best lives. She has received her Registered Professional membership with the ASID, IDC (IDIBC), NCIDQ and IIDA, and she is a Board Certified Healthcare Interior Designer with the AAHID. Christine is a member of the BC Care Providers Association, the International Council on Active Aging and the Canadian Association on Gerontology. She is a Board Member of the German-Canadian Benevolent Society of BC, dedicated to providing quality care and support for seniors in British Columbia. She brings a depth of knowledge and experience having worked on complex projects in the senior living and wellness sector, including: luxury independent living. assisted living, memory and dementia care, complex care and geriatric behavioral health environments in the United States and Canada.






The design of this initiative is profound. Kudos.

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Jasmine R Poladian

Senior Healthcare Interior Designer - Providing innovative and timeless designs for hospitals, medical office buildings, and clinics.

4 年

Beautiful Article and Thanks for sharing!

Ian Jones MRICS

President and Founder at BGI Group- 23Milsf-$9Bil

4 年

Great article Christine. Your input will create special life experiences..

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