Description

Sonnweid Nursing Home, a privately-run institution in Wetzikon in the canton of Zurich, opened its second new extension in 2001. In both its care concept and its living arrangement, the home successfully pursues new directions for the care of people with dementia. The residents live according to their own “rules” and are no longer subjected to our conventional system of values, which for them have limited relevance. The guiding principle for the operation as well as the architectural concept of the home – where residents may stay until they die – is to recognise the residents’ confused state as an immanent part of their being.

The new extension is a three-storey volume with a single-loaded arrangement of rooms and additional accommodation as well as a terrace at roof level. An important part of the building, which is connected to the main building that dates from 1933 via a glazed connector, is its circulation concept. Instead of using stairs, a system of ramps allows residents to move from floor to floor safely on foot. This reduces the risk of accidents while simultaneously allowing residents to move around freely and independently without being limited to the interior. Its continuation leads outside to a system of pathways that form a circuit through the garden. Due to the slope of the site the building provides several points of access to the gardens from each floor. Taken together, the paths indoors and outdoors form an “endless loop” with an overall length of more than a kilometre along which the residents can move around freely.

Clearly arranged floor plans with obvious circulation and light and friendly colours characterise the interiors. It is important for the residents that they can readily identify where paths lead and what goes on in the building. All the residents’ rooms are south-facing. Ancillary spaces such as the kitchen on each floor, bathrooms and activity spaces are arranged on the north side. Large windows ensure that light illuminates the rooms entirely so that there are no dark rooms. Round skylights in the generously dimensioned corridors and above the ramps illuminate the circulation spaces which always lead towards daylight. Suspended ceilings made of perforated plasterboard and curtains absorb a lot of the noise. Tactile elements such as tree trunks, sculptures, water, colours and winding paths provide both variety and stimulate the senses with their different materiality. Even memories of holidays in earlier life are addressed in the design of the “Arvenstübli” which features an abstracted form of wood panelling – without the chalet kitsch – on the walls and ceilings, intended to stimulate associations and bring back memories.

In Sonnweid, every resident is cared for according to their specific needs. To help reduce conflicts, behavioural problems and overburdening of the residents, the home is divided into three living areas, with care provision and therapies aimed at activating the residents’ still active faculties appropriate to each phase.

Residents in the early stages of the illness may no longer be able to live alone at home but can still relate, at least partly, to “our” reality and can undertake all manner of everyday activities. In Sonnweid, these residents live in small residential groups.

In more advanced stages of the illness, often typified by an urge to move around, the residents live in a care group. These residential units are accessed via a common entrance and consist of a pair of two-bed rooms with a common entrance lobby and two bathrooms. The level of illumination in the rooms can be regulated according to the residents’ state of well-being.

The “oasis” on the upper storey is for residents who are most seriously affected by dementia and require the highest level of nursing care. The oasis is arranged as a single room with several beds, with adjoining single-bed rooms. The ceiling is arched and punctuated with 1300 points of lights reminiscent of the night sky. The furniture, made of maplewood, is mobile and can be moved around to create niches and intimate corners as required.

To the north and to the road, the building is mostly glazed so that residents are aware of everyday life in their immediate surroundings. The rhythmically arranged windows on the yellow-rendered south façade look out over the landscape. Several terraces with planting provide transitional spaces between indoors and outdoors.

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Originally published in: Eckhard Feddersen, Insa Lüdtke, Living for the Elderly: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2011.