E09 – Designing for Sleep: An Evidence-Based, Team-Driven Approach to Senior Wellness
Sleep is emerging as a critical determinant of health in senior living—and yet, despite mounting evidence linking sleep quality to cognitive function, mood, immune response, and longevity, design professionals remain largely excluded from sleep-focused interventions. This session challenges the outdated view of design as a passive backdrop, repositioning it as an active clinical tool. Through a multidisciplinary case study rooted in both clinical and design research, we explore how circadian science, thermoregulation, acoustic mapping, and lighting protocols can be strategically leveraged to improve sleep architecture in memory care settings. Participants will examine how built environments can support both resident and staff wellness, reduce hospital transfers, and mitigate the daily challenges associated with poor sleep. The session highlights how embedding design professionals within multidisciplinary care teams—from project inception through operations—can improve long-term outcomes and operational performance. With bioscience and neuroscience advancing rapidly, the design profession is being called to evolve. Architects, engineers, operators, and developers are invited to reimagine the built environment not as a static container, but as a dynamic, biologically-attuned asset. Attendees will leave with evidence-based strategies to align design with human health—transforming senior living environments into tools for healing and longevity.
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