Abe's Garden at Park Manor

Abe’s Garden seeks to transform the full continuum of care for those affected by Alzheimer's and dementia throughout the United States, by providing an unprecedented level of care and a comprehensive array of services for individuals currently suffering from these diseases. Equally important, it will be a site of research and training, in full collaboration with the Vanderbilt Center for the Quality Aging and the Vanderbilt Medical Center, setting a new standard for future programs and facilities seeking to care for our nation’s rapidly expanding senior population.  

Abe’s Garden will be a best-practice, aging-in-place, demonstration facility designed to provide a caring, resident focused experience. A series of richly designed exterior gardens provide a safe and secure environment for residents to enjoy at their leisure.  The campus will be arranged in “neighborhoods,” each with their own unique characteristics designed to provide a variety of environments for residents and their families. Each neighborhood features 12 single bedrooms with a common kitchen, dining room, spa and living areas. Each of these neighborhoods will be connected by a variety of interstitial spaces that provide another series of options and services for socializing, creative activity and connection to the exterior gardens.

Abe’s Garden will be a model lab for continued development of best-practices for care of people with dementia, for the education and support of families and for the training and support of staff.  Abe’s Garden will be a model of care that may be replicated throughout the country.

MZA's design team for Abe's Garden included: Perkins Eastman, Interior Design; Hawkins Partners Inc., Landscape Architecture; Genesis Engineering Group, M,P&E Engineering; EMC Structural Enigneers; Barge Cauthen, Civil Engineering.

Photos by Nick McGinn at McGinn Photography