When patients walk into a nursing or health care facility, it’s easy for them and others to just see it as another building, with walls, floors and a ceiling.

But in recent years, the projects are increasingly relying on industry research to incorporate elements of interior design that are intended to help patients or residents in recovery or treatment beyond just the medical sense.

When it comes to memory care, much of this involves using elements that are calming, helpful to an individual with memory issues and limit the traditional institutional feel of a care facility.

Mary Wassel, administrator for Lorettos Nottingham Memory Care, said the unveiling of the facility’s new fish tank is the latest in the organization’s effort to offer its residents the best, based on what experts say. The fish tank promotes relaxation and offers a sense of movement.

“What does the research show is best practice?” she said. “Things like the high ceilings that we have here, or the red plates, or the red toilet seats. Research shows that those colors stand out, so we’re able to have the person be as independent as possible.”

Beyond the fish tank and other elements, the entire facility has a village theme. Wassel says every detail down to the street sign directionals was thought out carefully.

“We unveiled these last year because with streets, what do you have? Street signs,” she said.

Additionally, the rooms themselves are differentiated by their own individual facades.

“It’s easier for someone to identify,” she said. “We have a different roof with different peaks for each section.”

Andrea Waldman, whose family helped to make the fish tank display a possibility, said the design of the center has given her and her siblings the confidence they needed to take care of their mom.

“It’s not just a hallway with the same door, which can be confusing for someone with memory difficulties,” she said. “It’s just such a calm, relaxing space to be.”

With floors that transition from the street to the front porch to the front lawn, Wassel said that intentional design in care facilities helps to limit the institutional feel with open spaces that put the mind at ease.

“A lot of facilities are the traditional model where they have walls that interfere with their way finding, and this doesn’t have it,” she said. “It has no walls, they keep on going and going and going.”

Each small detail designed to make residents feel at home and feel safe.

“They don’t feel like they’re being confined and trying to go to the door, or trying to find a way out,” she said. “It really helps with this design because then they just keep on moving.”

The facility also has a fully enclosed courtyard, something that many centers have adopted as a way to allow residents to go outside while remaining safe and eliminating the possibility of the resident leaving the facility.