As World Alzheimer's Day on 21st September shines a spotlight on the challenges faced by people living with dementia, it also provides an opportunity to consider how the built environment can support independence, confidence and wellbeing.
From care homes and retirement living communities to healthcare settings, thoughtful design plays an important role in creating spaces that are easier to understand and navigate. While factors such as lighting, colour and wayfinding are often discussed, flooring is one of the largest visual surfaces within any interior and can have a significant impact on how a space is perceived.
For people living with dementia, familiar and comfortable surroundings can provide reassurance and help reduce confusion. Flooring that is easy to interpret can support independence, reduce uncertainty and contribute to a stronger sense of home. These principles sit at the heart of dementia-friendly design and are increasingly being considered by architects, designers and care providers when specifying materials for aged living environments.
Floor pictured: Magna from our Opus collection.
To help support evidence-based specification, Karndean Commercial has achieved accreditation from the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) for 19 flooring designs within its Opus collection. Independently assessed against recognised dementia-friendly design principles, these products offer designers confidence when creating environments that support people living with dementia.
1. Consider colour perception
As people age, it can become more difficult to distinguish between colours with similar tones. For someone living with dementia, a light grey floor placed against a slightly darker grey wall may appear as a continuous surface, making it harder to recognise where one element ends and another begins.
To help define surfaces clearly, designers should aim for a difference of at least 30 Light Reflectance Value (LRV) points between floors and walls. This can help occupants better understand the space around them and support independent movement throughout a building.
2. Avoid dramatic changes in floor colour
People living with dementia may find it more difficult to judge depth and distance. Sudden changes in flooring colour can sometimes be perceived as a step, a hole or a change in level, even when the floor surface is completely flat. This can cause hesitation and make navigation more challenging.
Where possible, transitions between adjoining floor coverings should be subtle. Maintaining visual consistency across flat floor surfaces can help minimise confusion while still providing sufficient visual distinction between areas. As a guide, differences of around 8 to 10 LRV points between adjacent flat floor surfaces can help avoid the appearance of a change in level.
3. Choose calm, consistent patterns
Pattern is a key consideration when selecting flooring for dementia-friendly environments. Busy flooring designs, bold geometric layouts, pronounced knots, strong tonal variation and highly directional laying patterns can sometimes be interpreted differently by people living with dementia. What may appear to be decorative detailing can be mistaken for objects, holes or potential trip hazards.
For this reason, calmer and more consistent flooring visuals are often recommended. Reducing unnecessary visual complexity can help support wayfinding and spatial understanding, making environments easier to navigate and more comfortable to use.
Designs with subtle detailing and limited visual interruption help create spaces that feel familiar and intuitive, allowing occupants to focus on understanding their surroundings rather than interpreting the floor beneath their feet.
Within the Opus collection, designs such as Oscuro Terrazzo and Platino Terrazzo demonstrate the type of subtle, non-directional patterning often preferred in dementia-friendly environments. Their understated appearance helps reduce unnecessary visual complexity while still providing character and design interest within a space.
4. Understand the challenge with wood flooring
Natural timber is often associated with wellbeing-focused design and can help create warm, familiar environments that feel more like home. For care, healthcare and aged living settings, wood-effect flooring is often preferred over more institutional finishes because of its natural appearance and biophilic benefits.
However, not every wood floor is suitable for dementia-friendly environments. While highly characterised timber designs can be visually appealing, pronounced knots, dramatic grain patterns and significant tonal variation can create visual complexity that is difficult to interpret. According to DSDC guidance, these features may be perceived as markings or objects on the floor and, when planks are laid side by side, can contribute to visual overstimulation.
The challenge is retaining the natural qualities of wood while ensuring flooring remains visually clear and straightforward to interpret.
When selecting wood-effect luxury vinyl flooring, designers should look for:
- Subtle grain variation, as seen in designs such as Columba, Avena and Barolo Oak
- Consistent colour tones across adjacent planks
- Minimal knots and visual interruptions
- Familiar, natural-looking timber visuals
- Calm designs that are easy to interpret
Not all Karndean Commercial wood designs are suitable for dementia-friendly applications. Designers should look for DSDC-accredited flooring products. Within the Opus collection, accredited wood designs feature subtle grain variation, consistent colour throughout and an authentic natural appearance.
These characteristics help create warm, welcoming environments while reducing visual distraction and making flooring easier to interpret.
5. Support intuitive wayfinding
When environments are easy to understand, people are more likely to move through them independently and with confidence. The style, pattern and layout of a floor can all help people interpret and navigate their surroundings.
Flooring can also support wider wayfinding strategies by helping to define the purpose and flow of different spaces within a building. For example, designers may choose to pair DSDC-accredited wood designs with complementary stone-effect floors from the Opus collection, such as Mico, Fumo and Urbus, to subtly distinguish between circulation routes, communal spaces and private areas.
When creating this visual distinction, it is important to maintain appropriate contrast levels and avoid dramatic changes in colour that could be perceived as a change in level. Used thoughtfully, flooring can help occupants better understand their surroundings while supporting confidence and independence.
Floor pictured: Mico from our Opus collection.
Why DSDC accreditation matters
The Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) is internationally recognised for its expertise in dementia-friendly design and environmental assessment. Designers frequently look for DSDC-accredited finishes when specifying products for aged living and healthcare projects.
Karndean Commercial has achieved DSDC accreditation for 19 designs within its Opus collection, including a selection of wood and stone designs. Accreditation provides independent reassurance that these products have been assessed against recognised dementia-friendly criteria, helping simplify specification decisions for designers and care providers.
In addition to their accreditation, the selected Opus products achieve a 36+ Pendulum Test Value (PTV), offering low slip potential and helping support confidence underfoot in environments where safety is a priority.
Importantly, many of the principles associated with dementia-friendly design also support wider inclusive design objectives. Spaces that are easier to understand and navigate can benefit people with visual impairments, neurodiversity and changing mobility needs, creating better environments for everyone.
Floor pictured: Vermeer oak in herringbone and Pleta from our Opus collection.
Confidence begins from the ground up
Flooring is far more than a practical specification choice. It influences how people experience and understand the spaces around them.
By considering colour perception, minimising unnecessary contrast, selecting calm patterns, choosing appropriate wood visuals and supporting intuitive wayfinding, designers can help create environments that are easier to navigate and more conducive to wellbeing.
Backed by independent accreditation from the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC), Karndean's selected Opus designs combine evidence-based design principles with the aesthetics of natural wood and stone, helping architects and designers create supportive, inclusive environments for people living with dementia.
