Book excerpt: "Marsden provides an overview of assisted living's evolution and then addresses the current information resources available to designers. drawing on consumer-based research, he discusses successful humanistic design and presents a conceptual framework with six themes: familiar housing cues, protective enclosure, caring cues, human scale, usability, and naturalness. He applies this framework to specific guidelines for building exteriors, interior entries, and common living rooms and dining rooms. His recommendations are supported by photographs that demonstrate effective design strategies as well as some less-successful examples." "This book presents essential design guidelines for housing owners, operators, administrators, policy makers, gerontologists, interior designers, and architects."--BOOK JACKET.