CREDIT: CHRISTINE BELANGER
Third-year hon. bachelor of interior design students have an opportunity to create designs for McCormick Home. Fourth-year student Christine Belanger and her group designed a nursing desk, pictured here.

For the second year in a row, third-year students in Fanshawe College’s hon. bachelor of interior design program are creating designs for McCormick Home.

During the President’s Update Meeting on Feb. 19, fourth-year student Christine Belanger and professor Natalie Rowe spoke about the experience in the partnership’s first year. The students looked at different situations in interior design for those living with dementia and create designs as part of their studio course.

Students spent time in McCormick’s dementia care unit known as Memory Lane to conduct research and observe anticipated and unanticipated activities in the area. They also spoke to custodial staff, personal support workers (PSWs), and social and recreational directors to determine the needs of McCormick Home’s residents and caregivers.


Belanger said in the presentation that after the experience, she was inspired to make her thesis about a London dementia care home. She told Interrobang in a post-presentation interview that she enjoyed the face to face communication with everyone using the facility and their eagerness to answer questions.

“When this project was done, I felt confident in this topic more so than I had ever felt on a project before,” she said. “There was that drive and passion for it as well.”

Belanger said her year was the first year of the project. The thirdyear students for this academic year had more contact and observation time with the residents.

Rowe first established a relationship with McCormick Home during her graduate studies because the facility was used as one of her research sites. After having discussions about how the students can get involved, she met with the CEO and then came up with the partnership.

“Before working with me, I don’t really know that McCormick had thought about how interior design could connect with dementia,” She said. “It was a real eye-opening moment and awakening that they were like ‘You know what? This really is important.’”

The students were split into five groups to create design plans. Belanger worked with four other people to create a nursing station for nursing staff to work while also making the residents feel like they’re more at home. Belanger and Rowe added that the students also had to consider durable materials for safety reasons, as people with dementia tend to touch and pick away at materials.

The students created a circular, wrap-around desk with a glass sheet that also had a screen with photos to tell which home is which. For example, the Maple Home would have Maple Trees displayed on the screen.

“I could go on forever about all the things that it could benefit, but I think that the most important part was the non-institutionalized feel of it and taking away that hierarchy of nursing staff versus residents,” Belanger said. “At the end of the day, it’s the residents’ home.”

The partnership isn’t part of Fanshawe College’s Innovation Village. However, it included job skills for the future and signature innovative learning experiences (SILEx) included in Innovation Village’s mandate. During the President’s Update presentation, Rowe said the students gained an applied research SILEX, novel and adaptive thinking, social intelligence, and self-directed learning skills.

Since the students are also working with industry professionals, SILEx will also gives them a taste of the workplace and what to do when people interacting with the designed space express dislike for it and what needs to be changed.

“If you don’t have the opportunity to develop a thicker skin as a student, it’s going to be very shocking when you’re in the real world,” she said. “Not only are students hearing things from profs, which is extremely important, they’re also hearing it from the chef, the CEO, the executive team, the nurses, you’re hearing it from people who’d use the space.”

Rowe said implementing SILEx in Fanshawe’s programs gives the students an edge when they graduate because they have hands-on, real world opportunities outside of the classroom and the office.

“For a lot of students in different capacities, the first time they experience it is when they start working,” Rowe said. “Sometimes if you start in a more junior designer position, you might not leave the office all that much so it could be five or 10 years after you graduate before you actually are in the moment.”

The hon. bachelor of interior design students have also created restaurant plans for Museum London and came to a job site with EllisDon. Belanger said her program likes to get students out of the classroom as much as they can for these learning opportunities.

“We need to understand as a college and a community that there’s so much learning past these doors,” she said. “Fanshawe’s great, but there’s so much that the world can offer that a building cannot, so I think that’s the important part about the SILEx is making sure that we are given the best learning outcomes that might not necessarily be within these walls.”

During the project, the students also got to meet the architect behind the McCormick Home building and present their ideas to him.