How to Create Memory Care Spaces That Promote Calmness and Connection

The design of a space has a powerful influence on the people who inhabit it, which is why senior care communities place such a strong emphasis on thoughtful planning. In memory care settings in particular, the built environment plays a critical role in fostering calmness, comfort, and meaningful connection. From layout and scale to materials, color, and light, thoughtful design choices can actively support residents’ daily experiences and overall quality of life.

Read on to discover how intentional design strategies can reduce anxiety, support daily routines, and create more engaging memory care environments.

Common Design Concepts for Memory Care Spaces

Anthony Vivirito, associate at The Architectural Team

When approaching memory care design, Anthony Vivirito, an associate at The Architectural Team, focuses on creating spaces with clear organization, a familiar scale, and intuitive layouts. “There’s an aspect of this where the disease makes it difficult for the usual cognitive recognition of spaces,” he says. By prioritizing simplicity and predictability, his team has found that operators often report reduced resident anxiety. “It creates a setting where there’s lower pressure for social connection,” he explains.

Consideration for health and wellbeing is at the heart of many of Vivirito’s designs. Color, light, and sound are carefully considered to prevent overstimulation and help residents feel at ease. Certain areas, such as dining rooms, naturally generate more noise and activity, making it important to separate them from quieter, more passive zones or circulation areas.

“Ultimately, you want to create an environment where you can create engagement with other people in the community and bring in as much natural light as you can,” he explains. “Those are all important design elements.”

Best Practices for Community Layout

Memory care communities are often organized into small neighborhoods, typically containing eight to 12 units. “From an operational standpoint, that size is manageable for the staff,” he explains. This approach also helps residents feel more grounded by limiting the scale of their immediate environment.

Spaces are also designed with simple circulation loops. Designers avoid dead-end corridors because residents may gather there or become confused in those spaces. “You want an environment with clear visual cues,” says Vivirito.

Ease of navigation extends to both shared spaces and private rooms. Community areas should be immediately recognizable and easy to find. Within resident rooms, visibility from the bed to the bathroom is especially important. Lighting and color cues play a key role here. Using a distinct color at the vanity sink or toilet seat can help residents understand each fixture’s purpose. “As much as you can, you’re trying to reduce confusion and you want to support the daily routines of the residents,” Vivirito explains.

Using Lighting to Support Calmness and Connection

Lighting has a significant impact on memory care residents. Both natural and artificial light can help re-align circadian rhythms, while consistent, even illumination—particularly at night—can reduce anxiety associated with sundowning. Using warm, natural light can contribute to a calming atmosphere, while harsh, institutional lighting should be avoided.

Evenness is especially critical, as many residents struggle to distinguish between light and dark. “You don’t want to create dark spots, because they’re perceived as holes,” says Vivirito. “A generally good prescriptive approach is to make sure you’re not creating dark spots and are providing even illumination throughout living spaces and common areas.”

The same principle applies to color selection. Muted palettes and low-contrast combinations are easier to interpret, while busy patterns or high-contrast flooring, such as checkered tile, can be visually confusing and even alarming. Avoiding these patterns helps prevent misinterpretation of depth and space.

To maximize daylight, Vivirito often places oversized windows in resident rooms, while amenity spaces are intentionally placed adjacent to large windows to further extend access to natural light.

How Sound Reduction Enhances Comfort

Noise can be overwhelming in memory care environments, particularly in high-activity areas like dining rooms. To mitigate this, designers often rely on sound-absorbing strategies rather than costly structural changes. “We’ll use acoustical fabric panels often to mitigate the sound,” says Vivirito. These panels are typically paired with softer materials and furnishings to further dampen noise. “There are things you can do to the ceiling assemblies themselves to mitigate sound, but it’s an expensive strategy and the sound improvement is not always perceptible to the ear,” he adds.

Intentionally separating circulation paths also helps reduce distractions. Incorporating doors between common areas and walkways preserves an open feel while allowing quieter spaces to remain protected from constant foot traffic.

The Role of Outdoor Design

Access to outdoor spaces is a vital component of memory care design. Whenever possible, Vivirito prioritizes ground-level courtyards or terraces. “Being able to have an outdoor dedicated courtyard, or a courtyard and a terrace, is really important,” he says.

Vivirito often designs memory care neighborhoods on the first floor, which allows residents to move outdoors more easily and enjoy outdoor activities. Providing multiple access points and outdoor zones increases opportunities for fresh air, natural stimulation, and engagement throughout the day.

Improve Existing Memory Care Spaces

Even without a full renovation, many existing memory care spaces can be meaningfully improved through fairly simple changes. Lighting is often the most effective place to start. “In my experience, if the lighting is done really well, you don’t notice it,” says Vivirito. “But when the lighting is not done very well, you notice it.” Fortunately, lighting upgrades are often relatively simple to implement.

Noise reduction can also be addressed by adding acoustical panels or incorporating softer materials into gathering spaces. Simplifying color palettes—especially in rooms with high contrast across floors, walls, or ceilings—can further reduce confusion.

Decluttering is another effective, low-cost strategy. “Just generally, simplify the spaces,” Vivirito advises. Clear circulation paths and recognizable visual cues help residents orient themselves more easily. Incorporating familiar or locally meaningful artwork can also reinforce a sense of identity and belonging. “Sometimes that artwork is specific to [residents’] own lives or to the community, itself,” says Vivirito.

While designing a memory care environment with calmness and connection in mind from the outset is ideal, even modest changes can make a meaningful difference. Thoughtful design, at any stage, can enhance residents’ daily experiences, support staff, and elevate the overall quality of a memory care program.

Paige Cerulli

Paige Cerulli is a contributing writer to i Advance Senior Care.