Best Offline Design for Memory Care 2022: “Infinity Loop” with connection to nature

In the suburbs of Greater Philadelphia, there is a memory care community where residents can enjoy the great outdoors and enjoy their walks.

The community of Meadowwood in Lansdale, Pennsylvania recently expanded with a new approximately 19,000-square-foot memory care building that added 20 memory care units and many new amenities for residents, including an “endless loop” where residents can walk in the sun without hitting obstacles.

While loops or circular walkways are not uncommon in memory care, Meadowood’s allows residents to look inward towards the courtyard, giving them an added connection to nature when it is considered important to residents’ well-being.

Named after the generous donor, the building, named the McLean Center, is close to Meadowwood and its services, giving it a competitive edge over other memory care buildings.

According to RLPS Architects partner Eric McRoberts, the community was designed to prioritize memory-conscious residents while eschewing the traditional residential layout.

The McLean Center team faced logistical design challenges that exceeded those expected during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the community opened closer to fall 2022 and is ahead of its planned rental schedule.

Timeless design and the priority of light earned the McLean Center and design team first place in the Senior Housing Architecture and Design Awards 2022 in the autonomous memory care category.

Concept

Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based architectural and design firm RLPS has done many different memory care projects over the years, but no two projects are alike, according to McRoberts.

“That’s one of the reasons we enjoy working on this type of building,” he said.

He added that the company evaluates each project about a year after it launches to see what worked and what didn’t.

“Some things that you think are great ideas turn out to be not so because they are perceived by a person with dementia or cognitive problems,” McRoberts said.

McRoberts noted that, like many of his memory care firm’s previous projects, the project to add the McLean Center to the community brings some entirely new elements to the community. .

The project’s design team wanted to alleviate the frustration of residents and keep them engaged even as they wandered throughout the community. So the RLPS and Meadowwood design team designed a building that resembled a figure-of-eight structure, a concept they called the “infinite corridor.”

“As you go through [floor] plan, or you walk through the space, every time you come to the edge, the hallway doesn’t stop,” RLPS senior interior designer Kristin Novak told SHN.

Along the corridor, the RLPS has established interaction stations that allow residents to help them make sense of their surroundings and improve navigation.

In the center of the figure-eight structure are yards with gardens and year-round greenhouses.

RLPS relied in its design on research that proves that gardens and natural light can improve mood and slow the progression of dementia in memory-conscious patients.

Yards were designed to give residents a natural sense of time of day and seasons, replacing more artificial circadian lighting, according to the RLPS.

“When you walk out of any living room, you immediately have a view of the courtyard or some kind of green space,” Novak said. “And in those yards, there is every opportunity for growth, such as raised beds for various plantings, herb gardens and flower beds.”

The designers have enhanced the identity of the various spaces of the memory care building through color, interior decoration and artwork.

For example, dining and living rooms are designed with cathedral ceilings, which means these rooms are for social gatherings, while private dining rooms have lower ceilings.

building

Like many projects over the past three years, RLPS and Meadowood encountered some difficulties during construction, but nothing out of the ordinary, according to McRoberts. Challenges included supply chain issues, construction labor disputes, and regulatory hurdles.

One of the biggest problems arose in the shape of the campus itself, which had become overcrowded over the years that Meadwood built it.

“Obviously they wanted this building to be connected to some of the other components of their medical center,” Novak said. “So this site was really hard to work with.”

Meadowood, RLPS and building contractor Benchmark Construction Company were to work together to restore infrastructure such as utilities and staff parking that had been disrupted by this new building.

Cant

Yet the pandemic has played its part. And, indeed, is still destroying the building. “[Meadowood – McLean] opened its doors in September and is still waiting for the arrival of a couple of pieces of furniture that have been on order for over a year,” Novak said.

The community has gone over budget as a result of the pandemic, but McRoberts says it’s not abnormal.

Completion

Residents first moved into the McLean Memorial Building in Meadowwood in September 2022, McRoberts said, and it is currently ahead of the rental schedule.

Its 20 apartments, 18 of which consist of singles and two tandem or twin apartments, bringing the building’s potential capacity to 22.

The Design Awards jury recognized the biophilic design of the project and the endless corridor as elements that contribute to the involvement of residents and a positive attitude towards nature.

“Notable are the greenhouses/planters that allow residents to enjoy nature even in inclement weather,” says Hord Coplan Macht director Cynthia Schonaya, who was a judge in the Memory Care category.

The garden-filled courtyard of the community is attractive and relevant in all seasons, while its salon, living and dining areas create space for multipurpose events and programs.

Its proximity to Midwood’s full-time doctors and care team makes it a convenient place for residents to live.

In addition, RLPS worked with the culinary staff of Meadowood Senior Living to create memory care culinary and dining experiences that rival other levels of visual acuity in the senior care continuum.

“Getting independent residents who want to come and eat in your memory care room is something special,” McRoberts said.

But perhaps the biggest testament to the memory center building’s appeal is the fact that it’s not just the residents of the memory center who want to spend time there. In fact, a Meadowwood resident who recently moved to McLean invited a group of friends from the seniors community who came to the memory care community.

“You just don’t see a lot of Illinois people willing to come to a memory care center to spend time,” Novak said. “Usually they take care of the memory… so while it’s a memory concern, it was designed to please everyone.”

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