Stuttgart-based Ippolito took Fleitz Architects approach to the demand for care for the elderly, with its design of the installation of nursing Kreiskankenhaus Schorndorf, a hospital district, near Stuttgart, in southwestern Germany.
For the new facility of 1,200 square meters, Ippolito Fleitz the main concern was to promote the independence of its 33 residents. Built on one level, all rooms are wheelchair accessible and easily located in one of the two wings.
Residents’ control of the space around them is emphasised at every turn. Carefully positioned seating islands or “niches” introduce a level of privacy into corridor areas. Each has two arm-chairs, a table and a lamp, and is contained by a translucent curtain.
Outside each patient’s room, photographs from the resident’s past are affixed alongside names. “Residents often arrive in nursing homes with very little around them to introduce them to others, and to help independence and interaction,” says partner Peter Ippolito. “We’ve tried to create a caring and open environment.”
The facility’s main corridor features over 170 framed pictures making up an archive of individual and group memory, aiding both communication and identification. Including record covers from Beethoven to the Rolling Stones, poems, postcards and maps, the variety represents and reflects the uniqueness of each resident’s life story.
Materials and colours were chosen to create a home-like, non-institutional atmosphere. Walls are painted in differentiated colours, or decorated with wallpaper. The oak furniture conveys a sense of home, and are complemented by greyish-brown linoleum. Recreation areas are highlighted with inlaid carpet islands.
Residents’ choice is again stressed in the diversity of activities and spaces, including a restaurant, outdoor terrace, therapy areas and recreation areas.
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