Background & Objective: Population ageing is increasing the number of older people who live with mobility, sensory, cognitive, or psychological limitations and who may require long-term residential care. In nursing homes, the built environment is not merely a physical container for care. Its spatial organization, accessibility, safety, opportunities for privacy and personalization, and relationship with nature can shape residents’ independence, their sense of being at home, and their emotional attachment to place. These issues are particularly important for residents whose functional limitations make everyday activities more dependent on environmental conditions. The present study aimed to explore the lived experience of older adults with disabilities in relation to the built environment of nursing homes in Tabriz, Iran, with particular attention to architectural accessibility, sense of home, and place attachment.

Methods: A qualitative study with an interpretive phenomenological orientation was conducted in four nursing homes in Tabriz. Purposive sampling continued until sufficient thematic depth and repetition of meanings were achieved. Resident inclusion criteria were residence in the facility, a physical, sensory, cognitive, or psychological limitation affecting everyday experience or support needs, ability to engage in meaningful conversation, and informed consent. In total, 26 interviews were analysed: 22 residents (13 women and 9 men) and four technical managers as key informants. Data were collected through in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews addressing admission to the facility, built-environment accessibility, comfort and safety, sense of home, place attachment, positive and negative aspects of residence, and activities and social interaction. Interviews lasted 15–40 minutes depending on each resident’s level of participation, communication ability, and willingness to elaborate on lived experiences. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis. Accessibility, sense of home, and place attachment were used as sensitizing concepts while allowing additional themes to emerge inductively. Trustworthiness was addressed using Lincoln and Guba’s criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.

Results: Three main themes were identified. The first, ‘built-environment accessibility,’ included wayfinding and mobility, safety and supportive equipment, lighting and colour, limitations on environmental modification, and access to personal storage or belongings. Residents’ experiences showed that an apparently simple route could still be inaccessible when visual impairment, transfer dependence, or lack of assistance was present. The second theme, ‘sense of home,’ included comparison with the previous home and homesickness; privacy and personal territory; domestic objects, personalization, and nature; and the contrast between homelike and institutional qualities. Personal belongings, familiar objects, private rooms, and the ability to control one’s immediate environment could support continuity of identity, whereas shared rooms and restrictions on personalization could weaken home-like feelings. Nature was not uniformly positive: for some residents it was calming, while for others it evoked painful memories of a previous home. The third theme, ‘place attachment,’ involved gradual adaptation; relationships with roommates and staff; and the need for both solitude and interaction-supportive spaces. Attachment was stronger in some residents who had voluntarily chosen the facility or developed supportive relationships, whereas involuntary or unexpected transfer could intensify alienation. Three emergent domains—manner of admission and family involvement, psychological distress and subjective experience of time, and food and collective activities—showed that environmental experience was inseparable from biography, relationships, daily routines, and perceived autonomy.

Conclusion: The lived experience of residents suggests that improving nursing-home environments requires more than technical barrier removal. Accessibility should be understood together with autonomy, privacy, personalization, meaningful contact with nature, continuity with previous life, and the possibility of choosing between social interaction and solitude. User-centred and inclusive design strategies that support these dimensions may enhance independence, sense of home, and place attachment among older adults with disabilities.