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A Dementia Village is designed gated community for people who suffer from dementia, those

who experience a gradual decrease of memory loss, identification, confusion etc. The aspect of
gated communities provide the affected with a change within the environment, that encourages
them to feel humane as compared to a hospital or a nursing homes with cold walls that may have
an impact where the affected feels they need to be ‘treated’. With India seeing a steady
increase in Alzheimer and dementia, with a noticeable service gap of over 90% ( source- ARDSI
)that is the percent of number of people with dementia to the number of facilities actually
prevailing and having a evident treatment.

With over 6 residential care facilities targeted towards dementia in whole of India. The need for
dementia villages with the focus of research and treatment increases. Most of the large institutions
/ nursing homes provide domestic space for the elderly in a steady decline, yet this is dominated
by the adherence to acute protocols that are mandatory. Residents may not always benefit from
this in the long run. With time it is important to imbibe a individualistic and person-centered
approach that can initiate a change. On the contrary the gated community helps in establishing
basic communication exercises and practices. One of the most impacting factors is that a gated
community is stripped out of the impersonal hospital feel and the clinical smell most of these
institutions still exude.

Even though the core of these kind of project is primarily the research center, the soul of the
project would be to create spaces for residents, who are often neglected. One of the main
questions to be answered would be- whether treatment of dementia should follow the age-old
practices, where residents are subjected to nursing homes? Or Can architectural design be
integrated to arrive at an alternative. Although it has been denied that dementia can be treated
completely, it should not be the reason to neglect patients with improper care. One of the recent
study has suggested to help patients relate with what they actually remember – traces of
childhood, parental homes etc. In simple words nostalgia can be implemented to create an
environment that may replicate the style of living, so that the residents do not feel indifferent. The
domestic stay will be a key element to the campus, where unbeknownst to a onlooker, would
have elements of design such as courtyards, backyards, sloping roofs etc. Visually the campus
may not seem like a ideal representation of the

preceding years, but the elements would be subtle enough for the resident to notice. The design
would focus on cluster style housing that would create zones/spaces with a lot of interaction. Cluster
housing would result in dedicated zones for recreation. The one of the design goals is to arrive at a
balance of modern and pre-modern design elements that would make the overall campus
cohesive. The core of the design is the thought that nature and nostalgia is a healing partner for
dementia. It has been derived from ancient Indian practices that nature can have a lasting impact
on one’s health not only physically but also spiritually and mentally. The main objective is to look at
dementia as less of a mental illness that can only be cured with rigid practices. That with the
integration of architecture these spaces can be redefined in terms of housing, treatment facilities
etc. Therefore a dementia village would be an ideal solution for patients with Alzheimer related
disorders, that where inhabitants would be taken care of with person-centered approach.

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