Designing a Better Day Guidelines for Adult and Dementia Day Service Centers

Winner of the 2007 Polsky Prize given by the ASID Foundation

As the U.S. population ages, adult day services have become an integral component in the continuum of care for elderly people. Providing a variety of social and medical services for cognitively or physically impaired elderly people who otherwise might reside in institutions, these facilities can be found in a variety of building types, from purpose-built facilities to the proverbial church basement. They also vary widely in their philosophies, case mix, funding mechanisms, and services.

In this interdisciplinary study, Keith Diaz Moore, Lyn Dally Geboy, and Gerald D. Weisman offer guidance for planning and designing good-quality adult day services centers. They encourage architects, caregivers, and staff members to think beyond the building, organizational mission, and staffing structure to conceive of the place that emerges as an interrelated system of people, programming, and physical setting.

Through case studies, thoughtful explanations, and well-crafted illustrations, Designing a Better Day provides caregivers, architects, and administrators tools with which they can make qualitative changes for participants and their families. Organized into three parts―creating awareness, increasing understanding, and taking action―this book will be a key resource for professionals involved in creating and maintaining effective adult day services centers.

Gerald D. Weisman is a professor of architecture and Director of the Institute on Aging and Environment at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.