ARCHITECTURAL APPROACHES TO DESIGNING ELDERLY CARE HOMES FOR PEOPLE WITHDEMENTIA

The study focuses on the analysis of modern architectural techniques for designing buildings for elderly people with dementia, which is one of the current problems in the context of demographic changes in Ukraine and around the world. In the context of an aging population and an increase in the number of people with cognitive impairments, it is especially important to create an architectural environment that provides not only functionality, but also psychological comfort, safety, and inclusiveness. The study reviewed scientific publications of recent years devoted to the problem of caring for elderly people with dementia. The analysis showed that many works are devoted to dementia as one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases among the elderly, researchers analyse the needs of people in special centres, offer methods for surveying not only the elderly, but also young people who are likely to think about the future. Separate studies are devoted to the study of the internal space of centres, inclusivity, design, and arrangement of premises. Only some researchers consider architectural and urban planning techniques for arranging centres for caring for the elderly. The article studies international experience in designing care centres for elderly people with dementia. The most common spatial planning methods for organizing care centres for people with dementia are “closed”, “atrium”, “street” and “cluster”. They differ from each other, have advantages and disadvantages depending on the conditions, limitations, environment, connection with the population of each specific place where such a centre is designed and built. The study showed that effective design for elderly people with dementia is based on the principles of containment, spatial organization and familiarity, which provide safety, clear navigation and psychological comfort for residents. The combination of these methods with modern principles of human scale will create an inclusive environment that will improve the quality of life of patients.