Published June 06, 2009, 12:00 AM

Sleepovers open architects’ eyes on nursing home design

Even in a wheelchair and with sweat pants and T-shirt, David Dillard didn’t look like the other nursing home residents. He was 25 years their junior, and he seemed much more curious about his surroundings than anyone else, chatting up the staff and residents and paying careful attention to door widths, hallway lighting and window heights. Dillard wasn’t at the Pilgrim Haven skilled care center in Los Altos, Calif., because of an illness, injury or long-term disability. The 58-year-old Dallas architect of senior living communities was there to live the life of a nursing home resident for 24 hours.

By: Bob Moos, The Dallas Morning News