Description
The brief for the design of a new building for an existing nursing home in St. Pölten, the capital city of the State of Lower Austria, required that the building be user-friendly, barrier-free, have a functional arrangement and exploit modern technology. For the architects, this was a unique opportunity to bring together all the conceptual components and integrate not only the operator but also the future residents and their relatives in the planning process. Based on a design by the Viennese architect Georg W. Reinberg – selected in an expert review selection procedure commissioned by the State of Lower Austria in 1996 – a “sun-filled house for the elderly” was developed.
Taking the restricted mobility of the residents and the typical image of an old person seated at a window as its starting point, the design is oriented around the principle of seeing and being seen. The compact volume of the building serves as a mediator between the world outside, i.e. the manifold views of the public spaces in the neighbourhood, and the public areas in the interior world of the home. The latter is particularly apparent through its full-height, sun-filled and richly greened atrium, which is open to the sky and serves as an entrance area and central access and circulation space within the building.
The five-storey nursing home and home for pensioners is situated on the banks of the River Traisen only a short walking distance from the old town and near to the government district. It adjoins pasture land that is used as a popular local recreational area. With a straight, yellow wall on the east and a curved grey façade on the west, the building is realised as a concrete frame construction with brick infill and curtain walling. Coloured blinds, with individually adjustable shading elements, enliven the grey rendered façade. The building rests on a base that contains all the services, plant rooms, kitchens and storage rooms as well as communal facilities such as the chapel and hairdresser. The entrance level is on the first floor, with day-care centre, administration, café, therapy rooms and small nursing ward, over which three further wards are stacked. The majority of the 51 single-bed rooms and 25 twin-bed rooms face onto the River Traisen and the town to the west; additional rooms are oriented eastwards. The central section of the east wing houses the various service facilities such as the nurses’ rooms, bath, washing facilities and further ancillary functions.
The nursing home and home for pensioners offers numerous means of predominantly barrier-free access via bridges and lifts. The main entrances on the east and west open onto a “platform” on the first floor from which all parts of the clearly-arranged interior of the two-wing building can be seen, making it easy for residents to ascertain where they are. The popular sun terrace and fully-glazed winter garden and dining room with kitchenette lie on the outer south and west ends respectively to encourage residents’ to make their way there and be more mobile. The diagonally arranged narrow bridges through the atrium, by contrast, provide quick and direct access from the nurses’ room to the individual resident’s rooms.
The design of the rooms, also by Reinberg Architects, is pleasant and light with wall panelling and furniture made of maple plywood and a green linoleum floor. Next to each entrance doorway there is a tall narrow window which can be closed with a “shutter” from the inside. Like the glazed balustrade of the interior walkways, it provides a view into the “world of the elderly residents” within. The upholstery of the chairs in the public interior space has been given slightly different shades of colour to create a sense of variety in the interior, especially as the day progresses and the interior is aglow with light.
In addition to the use of environmentally-friendly building materials and high-quality thermal insulation, Reinberg Architects also paid special attention to energy efficiency: a mechanical ventilation system employing a system of controlled ventilation and heat recovery from the outgoing warm air, leads not only to a reduced energy demand and cost savings of around 35 % but also helps improve the indoor air quality and with it the comfort and health of the residents. The air supply is routed vertically in prefabricated installation risers and ducts and horizontally within the suspended ceilings. Pre-filtered fresh air enters the room via a valve outlet and is also pre-cooled in summer. The latter is achieved using water-filled pipes laid 2 m beneath the ground, which utilise the natural coolness of the soil to cool the water using underground earth collectors.
The complex also has its own well which is used for watering the gardens and for process water. The water heating uses an energy-saving system using a twin-tank arrangement with a standby water tank and hot water storage tank, together with a stratified charging system. Air quality tests undertaken after completion of the building in the year 2000 showed that the building was free of hazardous substances.
All these qualities have rapidly become well-known and the nursing home in St. Pölten is now one of the most popular care homes in Austria. Plans are being made for a further extension and the addition of a hospice.
Drawings
Originally published in: Eckhard Feddersen, Insa Lüdtke, Living for the Elderly: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2011.