Dementia friendly design that is right up your street.
HEALTHCARE
When the staff at Newham University Hospital invited us to the older adults ward they wanted to use colour to improve patients and staffs well-being whilst nodding to Newham’s rich history. Additionally, we needed to use design and way-finding to encourage patients’ mobility while by being conscious that a considerable number of the patients’ suffer from varying stages of dementia which makes moving around the ward independently a daunting task.
As I walked through Thistle Ward, we found the corridors disorientating because everything looked the same. Every door was uniform and created with the purpose to accommodate beds being transported and meeting the health and safety regulations. The outcome would transform the ward of patients into a neighbourhood; every bay became a front door to bring a sense of home and belonging into the hospital.
CLIENT
NHS Barts Health Charity / Vital Arts
INDUSTRY
Healthcare
SERVICES
Spatial Design / Way-finding / Digital Design / Art Therapy
PRESS & RECOGNITION
University of the Arts London / We Are Ready / NHS / Barts Charity / AkzoNobelUK / Vital Arts
COLLABORATORS
Vinyl Projects
1940’s Heyday
Inspired by the communities of Newham post-war, houses were being rebuilt from the destruction. With new trade being internationally imported, coloured pigment was one of the goods that arrived on the London Docks. As a sense of ownership people started painting their front doors all different colours as a sign of optimism and hope. To celebrate Newham being one of the most multicultural boroughs in London, each door style is inspired by a different culture and community to bring the Thistle Street patients together as neighbours.
Good Intentions
Commissioned to design dementia-friendly artwork by Vital Arts and the NHS at a hospital ward in Newham, London. The brief invited all Central Saint Martins students to use design to transform the older adults ward to improve patients, visitors and staff well-being.
The ward was home to older-adults recovering from operations and some permanent residents who were receiving on-going treatment. Thistle Ward was your typical hospital ward but was home to patients who needed a little encouragement with their recovery. One of the best methods of recovery from a recent hip operation is movement but as I walked through the ward I could see why people were discouraged from getting up and out of their beds to walk around.
Designing Good Action
Working together with Vital Arts and the Newham ward staff, I wanted to know how we could improve every patients experience in the Thistle Ward.
Vital Arts are dedicated to making patients experiences in hospitals a more positive one, they deliver creative art projects to give communities access to art and design. Founded in 1996, Vital Arts has grown into one of the UK’s leading Arts and Health organisations. It has developed an international reputation for producing ambitious and award-winning projects, and pioneering arts programmes that encourage interaction with contemporary art, support wellbeing and transform the clinical experience.
The client and hospital board selected ‘Thistle Street’ as the winning proposal, and I would be transforming the ward of patients into a neighbourhood; every bay became a front door to bring a sense of home and belonging into the hospital.
The different designs, colours and illustrations, all of which were inspired by the 1940s and for those patients who are diagnosed with dementia, Thistle Street became a way-finding tool, encouraging mobility, community and independence.
“We are delighted with this project to transform the wards, by using a design strategy that will create dementia-friendly areas for our patients that are also playful, engaging and driven by good, intelligent design by recent Central Saint Martins graduates.”
— Catsou Roberts - Founder of Vital Arts
“The patients and their relatives are pleased and fascinated by it. One patient said he felt like her was at home!”
— Dionne Daniels - Senior Nurse - Newham University Hospital