(BDT_11_026) Elbschloss Senior Residences

Description

Waterside living has a long tradition in Hamburg. For Heinrich Heine, the Elbchaussee, which runs along one side of the river and connects Hamburg with the villas of the affluent suburb of Blankenese, was the most beautiful street in Europe. Situated about half-way along, slightly elevated, is the former Elbschloss brewery. The historic maltings with its long brick building and dominant tower characterises the extensive site on which the Elbschlösschen also stands, nestling under high trees.

In the middle of the 1990s, an urban design competition initially proposed up-market residences in conjunction with commercial uses for the site, all sensitively inserted into the protected historic context of the former restaurant building, the maltings and the Elbschlösschen. Although this concept won the competition for the architects, the site was later bought by a project developer and construction company who developed a proposal for luxurious residences for the elderly to be built for a pension fund. The shift in the nature of the planning task brought with it a stronger focus on economic considerations with the result that only the western portion of the site, still totalling some 18,000 m², was available for the project. The residences for the elderly are, with the exception of an additional nursing care facility, predominantly individual apartments looked after by the elderly residents themselves. The residents can partake of further services as and when they wish.

The former Elbschloss Restaurant today also contains a restaurant and room for events that are open to the public, but otherwise consists of apartments. This is where old and new meet: the two rectangular new buildings, one faced with a glass cladding, the other with timber, wrap around, support and extend the remains of the historic building. The new glass building even “crowns” the old tower in more sense than one.

Taking their cue from the neo-classicist villa built by the Danish architect Christian Frederik Hansen, a total of seven freestanding rectangular urban villas were built behind the former maltings. These four-storey buildings, which contain a total of 167 apartments and nursing facilities for 40 persons, are distributed across the site, three parallel to one another along the edge of the site and four loosely arranged between the trees. Despite their historic reference, the new buildings, with apartments ranging from 50 to 81 m² in size, are nevertheless modern, light and transparent: the stepped back roof level is timber-clad with a large terrace around its perimeter, and on the floors below, roofed-over balconies are inserted into the volume of the building. The vaulted cellars of the former maltings were demolished to make way for a meandering underground passageway that connects the different buildings with one another. Residents reach the restaurant on the Elbchaussee from their respective foyer, passing through the ground floor of the residences with the ground-level communal spaces. The passageway provides barrier-free access protected from wind and rain. Sections of the passageway are open to the outdoors, allowing sunlight in and giving the residents access to the gardens as well as providing natural ventilation.

The northernmost villa on the Elbschlossstraße contains the care facilities. Its plinth level and that of the middle residence for the elderly as well as both of the set-back connecting wings contain the foyer and access driveway to the Elbschlossstraße. This is where the reception is located, alongside the offices, lounge areas, a small shop and hairdresser, a therapy room as well as staff rooms. There is also a dining room; the adjacent kitchen services the restaurant on the Elbchaussee. The underground garage with entrance from the Elbschlossstraße is located beneath the plinth level.

The Elbschloss Residences is one of the first such facilities to have its own wellness centre, specially designed for the elderly by geising+böker. The heart of the 630m² centre is a pool with a lift that allows the residents to bathe without needing assistance. The architects have integrated handrails and emergency call buttons into the interior design; they are intended to provide the elderly residents with a sufficient sense of security, even when overexerted, as they use the gym facilities with special sports equipment or the soft sauna with massage jets.

An approximately 100 m² day room by the Berlin practice feddersenarchitekten, designed for residents suffering from dementia, rounds off the facilities. Built as a timber and glass construction in the form of a conservatory, it sits on a part of the terrace. Inside it is arranged like a traditional apartment with a hallway providing access to the cooking, eating, living and sleeping areas distributed around a central core containing the bathroom, fireside and risers. The different zones provide the residents with spaces of differing degrees of intimacy. The various furnishings function as optical dividers between the spaces. Residents use mobile separating screens to “close the door behind them”.

The entrance area is much like any entrance hall: two chairs for seating, a telephone, wardrobe for coats and key shelf create a homely feeling. The open kitchen with large windows and a glass door adjoins the terrace. The kitchen work surfaces also allow the residents to help with everyday activities such as washing vegetables, cooking and baking. The hotplate is built into a cantilevered worktop; the staff can watch over cooking pots from the “active” side with the kitchen sink, the residents from the “passive” side. The long table in the dining area with its light leather chairs serves as an invitation not just to eat together but also to socialise with one another.

In the living room, a fireplace let into a wood-panelled wall unit underlines a sense of homeliness. Recessed lighting at the junction with the ceiling creates a visual separation, lending the wall unit the appearance of a freestanding element. Similarly, sofas and chairs create a comfortable and intimate area, whose extents are marked by a large carpet. A small round table near the window can be used for playing cards or enjoying a coffee in a smaller group. Tucked around a corner, the bookshelves in the library communicate a sense of peace and contemplation.

In the neighbouring seating area, a wall painted a fresh green colour and an aquarium let into the wall create an atmosphere of calm and relaxation. A sofa in the corner is good for a snooze or a cuddle. Above them, an artificial skylight is let into the ceiling with a decorative three-dimensional tree motif that is intended to communicate the sensation of lying beneath a tree looking into the sky. Through an interplay of light, colour and sound this can be used to evoke different moods: yellow light and birdsong announce the onset of spring, the drumming of raindrops and flashes of light, an advancing thunderstorm.

Although the different parts of the space and their different characters contrast with one another, they all share a similar basic palette of colours and materials, in which wood, leather and earth tones predominate.