Redesigning aged care with a biophilic lens: a call to action

ABSTRACT

This paper calls for changes in the way we plan, design and build aged care facilities, proposing a new approach grounded in biophilic design. After reviewing current trends in design practice, including emerging new technologies and best practice initiatives – the Eden Alternative, the Green House model, and De Hogeweyk – we argue that biophilic design, which amplifies the connection that humans have with nature and provides a framework for designing for, with, and from nature, should be at the heart of aged care design. Drawing on an architectural case study analysis of three award-winning residential aged care facilities, we illustrate how biophilic design practice, although not explicitly conceptualised in such terms, is guiding contemporary best practice. Given the well-established public health benefits of contact with nature, and rapid population ageing, this paper challenges aged care stakeholders – from policymakers to planners, architects and designers – to rethink conventional practice and advocate for a biophilic approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Biophilic design
• biophilic aged care facilities
• healthcare architecture
• population ageing
• architectural design practice
• sustainable design

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The first revolution was the harnessing of water and steam power to mechanise production; the second the use of electric power for mass production; the third the use of electronics and information technology to automate production; while the fourth industrial revolution is rapid technological fusion.

2. For simplicity, we have focussed on the first pattern only, Nature in the Space.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Evonne Miller

Professor Evonne Miller is Director of the QUT Design Lab in the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Her expertise is in environmental and design psychology, focused on designing environments (built, technical, socio-cultural and natural) that better engage and support all users, especially older people in residential aged care.

Lindy Osborne Burton

Doctor Lindy Osborne Burton is the Master of Architecture Course Coordinator, in the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Her expertise is in transformational architectural education, the design of innovative learning and healthcare environments, and the interstitial spaces between art and architecture. Lindy is appointed as a Board Member of the Board of Architects of Queensland and she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.