Garden for dementia
Commission for the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation, Sydney
The garden aims to challenge common perceptions of what a garden for dementia should be, by creating something that anyone might be attracted too for themselves but on deeper inspection they will find that it has unexpected design qualities to support a person living with dementia.
The garden design is inspired by the idea that someone with dementia may well have led an exciting, full and stylish life with a great home and garden. Because they now have dementia it shouldn’t mean that they shouldn’t continue to have a stylish garden. The garden has passive therapeutic value with a gentle sensory experience stimulating the senses and a feeling of wellbeing through texture, movement, fragrance and colour to stimulate the senses and memory.
“The planting in The Unexpected Garden designed by Andrew Fisher Tomlin from the UK was exceptional. This garden was designed to be a friendly garden where sufferers feel comfortable and safe and it certainly achieved that.” Will Wilson Australia
For a pod cast about the garden and designing for dementia from Australia’s Life Matters programme:
