Description

When life is about to disappear, gardens are something to rely on. The knowledge on the good effects of cultivation as therapy is well established. This has been in focus for the residential care ”Trädgårdarna” (the Gardens) in Örebro, Sweden. The complex consists of 77 one-room units and four two-room units. The later is a response to a law from 2012, stating the right for people with dementia to stay with their partner even if just one of them is in need of care. The people that moves in here, normally stays 1-3 years. They don’t move anywhere else.

Trädgårdarna is oriented inwards. All the common areas as well as all communications are open to the yards. The possibilities to access an outdoor space, or the large conservatory on the second floor, is a major quality.

Every form of activity was to be incorporated in the every-day life of the men and women who spent their last years here. The entrance area is designed as a public square. Following the vision that every event, no matter how small, is better than silence, made the architects incorporate the facilities for loading goods to the public entrance. For the same reason is the restaurant on the ground floor accessible for everyone and hopefully attracts people working in the area.

The 36 square meter large apartments are rather generic. A French balcony with a possibility to look out from the bed is standard. It is on the common ground that specific qualities have been created. More than any other spaces, the conservatory is a supreme venue for a chat with your children or grandchildren. It is a space with very few connotations of “elderly” or “disease” but rather of modernity and a vivid life.

The total area for each tenant is 85 square meters. It means that almost 50 square meters is on the common areas, yards uncounted. There is a richness of places, without compromising the generic demands for orientation. Restless patients can be troublesome if they find themselves stuck in a dead end. There are no dead ends here. It is a circle of life that spins around the gardens.

Originally published in Bauwelt 03.2018, pp. 31-36, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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