As part of a course on the intersections of technology, accessibility, and design, I worked with an occupational therapist and an adaptive technology specialist at Dorchester residential care facility The Boston Home who had identified that residents with multiple sclerosis and other progressive neurological conditions had difficulty navigating the facility.

How do residents know where they are and how to get where they want to go over the course of their daily activities? How might residents more easily find their way?

We interviewed staff members and residents of The Boston Home to understand how residents currently navigate The Boston Home, how that experience might be improved, and what kinds of interventions might be appropriate in the context of The Boston Home.

Following preliminary interviews, we conducted a literature review of academic and non-academic resources on wayfinding accessibility and interior architecture.

We continued to talk with residents and staff members throughout the course of the project to test our thinking.

Above all, residents and staff valued resident independence.

The most beloved spaces in The Boston Home were those that felt the most home-like and least clinical.