Sensory rooms: designing interventions to support dementia care

Sensory Rooms is an exhibition that has been developed to provide ideas on how new approaches to design could result in the creation of environments that would better suit the needs of people living with dementia. It showcases the results of a recently funded research enquiry into the current provision of multi sensory stimulation for this age group, in particular the design of multi sensory spaces (often referred to as 'Sensory Rooms'). The overall purpose of the research has been to establish new knowledge from which coherent, user-centred design solutions can be developed. The exhibition launches a Guide Book ‟How to make a Sensory Room for people living with dementia” offering advice and ideas on how to construct and design a multi sensory space tailored towards people with dementia. Visiting the exhibition will be in itself a multi sensory experience as it features projections, textiles, sound and scent. This work will be of interest to professionals from care practice, policy makers, and designers as well as to those individuals caring for relatives living with dementia. The exhibition and the event are the results of an interdisciplinary research project led by Dr Anke Jakob (design researcher, Kingston University London) in collaboration with Dr Lesley Collier (senior lecturer in Occupational Therapy, University of Southampton) and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK (AHRC) and supported by Care UK.