Students from The Design School at Arizona State University recently presented their designs for older individuals to residents of Mirabella at ASU on Dec. 6, getting feedback on their final projects.

A press release explained that this is the second time that Mirabella at ASU has collaborated with Dr. Nina Sharp’s class. Sharp is an assistant professor at ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

“My graduate students of interior architecture had the unique opportunity to collaborate with the residents of Mirabella at ASU, a retirement community, gathering invaluable feedback on the memory care facility the students are designing this semester,” Sharp said in the release

Sharp said that involving user perspectives in the design process is a vital cornerstone of architectural and interior design. 

The Mirabella residents walked around, viewed the designs and provided their valuable feedback to the students on what would work, what wouldn’t and why, according to the release. Several more residents were part of the tours and feedback sessions over the past few months.

Students started their projects in September and visited Mirabella and another memory care facility to tour the building and interview residents to learn about the needs and opportunities for residents.

“They researched the latest on how lighting, music and aroma can improve cognitive performance, sleep quality and mood,” the release noted. 

Student Callie Evarts said in the release that in the development process, residents made observations about safety issues that were very helpful that the students hadn’t considered before.

“Honestly, we ended up talking to them about other things like where they lived before and what they did. We got to know them,” Evarts said. 

Mirabella resident Jessica Kozloff said in the release that they were impressed with all the ways the students considered older people and their needs into the designs and also the needs of visiting family.

“From my own experience with my father-in-law who lived with dementia, we know how important it is to have the grandkids come visit,” Kozloff said.

Kozloff added that the students are thinking about how to include such considerations into their designs, displaying an understanding that a building is more than a building — it’s also the people who interact with it.