JACOB DOWNEY
Fading Away - Rethinking the Approach to Dementia Care // Menzieshill
Located at the heart of Menzieshill, Dundee, sits a dementia village specifically designed to defeat care home stigma and increase the quality of life of its residents. The masterplan has been integrated with a series of dementia design principles, most importantly, a connection to nature. Residents have a choice of housing types aimed to suit different needs, including individual houses and shared flats. The village includes spaces for physical and engagement activities, communal gardens with allotments, and a plaza featuring shops, cafes, supermarkets, and a central reception. The village integrates into the broader community through relationships with local primary schools, nurseries and the Menzieshill community hub. The village is constructed using hempcrete, utilising a local hemp farm's current waste product.
Dementia Figures
Typical UK Care Homes
Dementia Design Principles
The Site
Located at the heart of Menzieshill, occupying the site that was once home to the local high school before its demolition roughly a decade ago, sits a dementia village aimed to defeat care home stigma.
Conveniently located near two local nurseries and a primary school, the village allows residents to connect to their wider community. Research shows that interactions can reduce challenging behaviours in dementia patients, increase their social engagement, and even improve their physical well-being.
The site is also in close proximity to the local community centre, highlighted in yellow, and the local NHS hospital, highlighted in blue.
Site looking North
Site looking East
Site looking South
Site looking West
Spatial Taxonomy
Examining Site Context
The Proposal - A Dementia village in the heart of Menzieshill
Explaining the Plan
Masterplan
Housing Types
Different housing to suit different needs
DC Drive Houses
DC - in reference to the media company DC Thomson who are based in Dundee
Discovery Drive Houses
Discovery - in reference to RRS Discovery, the Antarctic research steamship built in Dundee, now sitting next to the V&A
Jute Flats
Jute - refers to the fibre that can be spun into strong threads milled and produced in Dundee. Its production was huge by the 1830s, and it gradually took over until the city became known as ‘Juteopolis’.
Keiller Road Flats
Keiller - in reference to Janet Keiller who was a shopkeeping in Dundee who came up with a new recipe for marmalade and founded a dynasty. Keiller's Marmalade is said to have been the world's first commercially produced marmalade.
