Innovative approaches and verification in the design of flower beds to support horticultural therapy classes

Horticultural therapy cannot only improve an elderly emotional and cognitive functions, but also leads to more social participation and better overall health. In this study, the “House of Love”, a private nursing home in Taipei, had been the research base. This study found out, that current horticultural classes heavily rely on teacher-centric and volunteer staff assisted curricula often not considering the specific physical limitations elderly usually face in handling gardening tools and flower beds. Our new design “Elderly Green” took the special requirements of horticultural classes in consideration, providing for a maximum of flexibility under varying conditions by modularizing the flower bed. It allowed the elderly participants to move around and do their gardening in a more comfortable and less strenuous manner. This centripetal flower bed design concept increases interaction among the elderly, and reduces nursing manpower needs while improving equally distributed care for each participant during class time.