Insights & Solutions

Learn about the capacity of a virtual nature experience to significantly reduce stress, reduce anxiety, and increase pleasure, and treatment strategies that provide hope of reducing pharmacologic interventions and of improving quality of life for individuals with dementia and the staff who care for them.

Learn about: How to think big when building small; how a smaller environment can benefit residents and caregivers; and SAGE and its mission to unite industry leaders, healthcare providers, and consultants.

The following are compiled from research literature, case studies, interviews, and other materials to provide an overview on the topic of aging populations.  

Learn about: why the imagined and built environment needs to take a broader, more deliberate role in supporting aging patients, the tools that designers and providers must use to create supportive physical and social spaces, and information that visionaries, collaborators, and patients can share to streamline the design process.

Learn about: why the needs of older people are often overlooked, how universal design can support people as they age, how universal design also benefits people of varying abilities and generations, and the need for designers to think about functionality in new and existing spaces.

Learn about: the need for current healthcare systems to accommodate a growing number of older Americans, how healthcare needs change as people age, design features that can help older patients feel more at home in an inpatient setting, and how home design can contribute to personal health and satisfaction over time.

Healthcare is provided in a variety of settings, from a person’s home to outpatient clinics, to the hospital. While the settings and specific design elements may differ across the continuum of care, the objectives of safety, efficiency, satisfaction, and high quality care remain constant. This set of interactive diagrams provides a link between the evidence base, design strategies, and desired outcomes – in a visually intuitive and actionable format.

Learn about: definitions of psychological concepts related to the designed environment, functions of personalization, privacy, wayfinding, and access to nature in meeting psychological needs, and design implications of personalization, privacy, wayfinding, and access to nature.

Learn about: activities necessary for independent living, the range of residential options for older adults, and the culture change movement that is transforming care environments for the aging population.