(BDT_22_005) Health Centre and Residence for the Elderly

Description

The Health Centre and Residence for the Elderly is located on the site of the former Leszczynski Antoniny Manor in the Polish town of Leszno. Three former farm buildings on the site have been converted, refurbished and extended to house a mix of different functions.

At the southern end of the former stables building, a new health centre for the elderly has been built. It is housed in a former granary building, which was comprehensively renovated and extended by adding a storey. In the now four-storey building, there is a rehabilitation centre for people with cardiovascular and orthopaedic illnesses, a general hospital ward, an intensive care unit and a special section for caring for people with dementia. On the ground floor, next to the entrance area and administration wing is a small chapel. The wards have direct access to various communal rooms and outdoor spaces.

In the converted stables, which link directly to the health centre, is a restaurant with an events area and a hotel with conference facilities. The basement houses the technical installations for the entire complex. The roof of the two-storey brick building from the 19th century was raised and a ribbon of windows added so that the 14 hotel rooms on the upper floor receive adequate daylight. On the new flat roof is a small café and a greened roof terrace with a boulodrome that serves as a meeting place for the elderly residents and visitors, offering a view over the town. On the top floor of the health centre, a terrace extends northwards over the large roof terrace, creating a sheltered outdoor area.

Parallel to the refurbished historical buildings, a new four-storey residence for the elderly has been built. Every floor has four furnished and completely equipped dwellings conceived as shared apartments. Each unit has a communal living and dining area off which two or three single and two-person rooms with private bathrooms are arranged. All apartments have deep windows and spacious balconies or loggias that the residents can plant as they wish.

On the ground floor of the residence for the elderly, there are also two treatment rooms in which residents can receive medical care and attention. In the centre of the first and second floors are generous communal spaces with terraces for communal activities. On the top floor, there is also an east-facing, communally useable roof terrace on which yoga and gymnastics classes take place in the fresh air. To the south of the building is a peaceful garden with a fountain.

To unite the various buildings from different epochs and their different materials, characters, heights and volumes, perforated, rust-coloured metal sheeting – in the colour of the brick façade of the former stables – has been used as a common design element, for example for balustrades and parapets, as sunshades or façade elements and also in the interior design.

The primary aim of the project is to offer the elderly residents a comfortable and healthy environment in which no-one feels isolated or shut away. Integration and interaction between residents is made possible both through the architecture as well as recreational and cultural activities. The various meeting places in and around the buildings provide opportunities for social interaction. The restaurant, café and hotel, as well as the cultural events, are open to the public and can be used by friends and relatives as well as tourists and local residents in the neighbourhood, connecting the complex to the outside world.