We are told that Alzheimer illness causes progressive loss of all mental powers - the power to think, to remember and to reason (www.alzscot.org). But, what about the ability to feel and sense, how can the patient express himself or communicate if he cannot “go from his mind to his fingers anymore”? Could music or the arts help to act as a release for trapped emotions?
If the patient “feels at home” one could assume his security, self-respect and self-image would be reinforced - something similar happens to any guest that comes to one’s house for a visit. Knowing the patients’ life-story forms part of that initiative. By talking about the past and finding what is important, s/he is helped to FIND THE WAY HOME. Thus is would be significant to create an environment emphasising UNDERSTANDING rather than CHANGE.
If thought in its essence, the home is the site where humanity and identity of the individual are fostered. The home is a place where the architectural language and the culture of the individual are juxtaposed in order to intensify the 'human' aspect of the home and to recognise each element within the consciousness and conscientiousness of the individual.
The house is thus not only a shelter but a cultural identity that is to be defined according to the inhabitant. It is the mirror of man's sentiments and a way of life. Limits, or boundaries, are not to be understood as that at which something stops. They are equally that at which something begins. As in the world of art, the house is not a collection of objects without a context.
It is a matter of 'feeling' the environment, its culture and peculiarity that becomes reinterpreted and visualised within the boundaries of the home. The 'home' is from where man originated and his history becomes felt when 'breathing' the house. “To breath” the house of Alzheimer patients could be way to understand their environment, and lead them BACK HOME.
If the patient “feels at home” one could assume his security, self-respect and self-image would be reinforced - something similar happens to any guest that comes to one’s house for a visit. Knowing the patients’ life-story forms part of that initiative. By talking about the past and finding what is important, s/he is helped to FIND THE WAY HOME. Thus is would be significant to create an environment emphasising UNDERSTANDING rather than CHANGE.
If thought in its essence, the home is the site where humanity and identity of the individual are fostered. The home is a place where the architectural language and the culture of the individual are juxtaposed in order to intensify the 'human' aspect of the home and to recognise each element within the consciousness and conscientiousness of the individual.
The house is thus not only a shelter but a cultural identity that is to be defined according to the inhabitant. It is the mirror of man's sentiments and a way of life. Limits, or boundaries, are not to be understood as that at which something stops. They are equally that at which something begins. As in the world of art, the house is not a collection of objects without a context.
It is a matter of 'feeling' the environment, its culture and peculiarity that becomes reinterpreted and visualised within the boundaries of the home. The 'home' is from where man originated and his history becomes felt when 'breathing' the house. “To breath” the house of Alzheimer patients could be way to understand their environment, and lead them BACK HOME.
