Household murals for the Elizaran Centre's dining room - Customisation of environments

The users and residents of the Elizaran centre in the Old Town are now, more than ever, at home: we have painted our dining room! We thought it was a bit cold, so we decided that some murals would give it a more homely feel. The Matia Model is based on the application of the person-centred attention model, and what better way to do this than to be able to sit at a dining room table surrounded by a cosy atmosphere, which inspires to continue with the daily activities that people do in their own homes.

The Elizaran centre is an open place, full of life, where young and old people share its many spaces, and we wanted the renovated dining room to reflect that spirit. In recent years it has been possible to establish the influence of the design of the environments, the colours and the type and amount of light on the mood, functional abilities or social interaction of institutionalised elderly people. So we set to work, and with the help of Eva Mena, our painter, we have created a place that encourages social interaction, inspires a homely atmosphere and promotes the stimulation of the senses.

Eva reminisced with us about the whole process: "I remember the first steps: preparing the sketches, thinking about how to 'furnish' the walls to give them the welcoming touch that the management wanted for the people in the day centre...". Eva Mena painting one of the murals in the dining room of the Elizaran Centre.

As it could not be otherwise, the people who come and live in the centre have also participated in the design and execution process of the work. Eva has nothing but words of thanks for everyone: "The execution of the mural took me a little longer than I thought at first (the gotelé made it more complicated) but the days there have been great: the care of Mila, the mimes of Lourdes, the jokes of Iñigo (the eguzkilore you worked on)... The conversations with Tamara (how delicious the milkshake! ), Ramón's fishing, Igor's new job, the day-to-day sharing of food with Javi, María Eugenia, Nika... and the others. Javi with his advice, Nika asking when I was leaving in the last few days... Aisss... I miss you! Thanks to everyone, including the workers at the centre that I haven't mentioned but that I also have in mind. And above all to Carmen, for trusting me. I hope you enjoy the mural as much or more than I enjoyed painting it.

Thanks to you, Eva! We will follow your trail and continue working on the personalisation of Elizaran and all the Matia Fundazioa centres.