ReAwakening: On Absence, Presence, and the Restorative Power of Music for People with Alzheimer's Disease

‘lost’, ‘empty’, ‘forgotten’, ... are terms that people with Alzheimer’s disease wrestle with. Understanding our past, present, and future within time and the environment plays an integral role in giving us confidence, identity, and purpose. A vital task of architecture is to help us to situate ourselves in the world, but one’s ability to navigate and situate in a space is greatly hampered by Alzheimer’s disease.The thesis aims to propose a space that provides assisted and independent living for people with varying degrees of Alzheimer’s disease while incorporating music, as a therapeutic process and intervention means. The project is developed from the investigation of music and its restorative powers. The amalgamation of day-to-day living and music, creates moments of active participation, where residents, caregivers, and family members, interact to form new memories and reflect on old ones.