In the Lower Austrian market town of Gablitz, about five kilometres from the Vienna city limits, a new nursing home is being built. During the planning of the new Retirement Home Alfons Maria, every detail was considered in order to meet the needs of the people to be cared for in the best possible way and to create a real place of well-being.
The care facility provides for a building with three living areas distributed over three upper floors. Living and recreation areas for 40 residents will be created in each of the living areas. In total, 120 persons can be cared for in the new building of the senior residence. Only 1-bed rooms are planned in order to offer the residents a great deal of privacy and sufficient peace and quiet. The residents’ rooms are directly accessible from a public corridor, which gives the staff a good overview and enables the senior citizens to easily contact the nursing staff. The current planning provides on the first floor a prayer room. If necessary, this can be converted into two 1-bed rooms with little construction work.
The regular structure of the room sequence as well as the zonal structure of the nursing wards provide the residents with peace, clarity and orientation. The natural location of the retirement home by the brook and the generous green spaces on its own property ensure wide views to the south and west of the building. The sequence of rooms on the ground floor aims to enable an efficient workflow for the staff, to keep daily walks short and offer pleasant lounging areas for the residents in need of care and their relatives. The zoning on the ground floor includes an office zone, staff rooms, storage and utility rooms, the technical facilities, the kitchen wing and the social and seminar room. The room programme also includes nursing bathrooms, sanitary areas, work rooms, a therapy room, a farewell room and a hairdresser’s including pedicure.
The common areas are planned with adjoining open spaces to form an extensive green area and provide a transition between inside and outside. The generous glass facades of the central common rooms in the east and west create a cosy impression of space through their even lighting and also lead to an increase the ability to concentrate.
The main access to the building is via Bachgasse and leads through an inner courtyard into the central entrance foyer. To ensure efficient work processes, the nursing and kitchen staff have a separate entrance in the east of the building. A total of 33 parking spaces are provided for visitors.
A customised energy concept was developed for the construction of the nursing home, which provides for an optimal and economical use of the available energy resources in order to reduce the impact on the environment as much as possible. The qualities of the building are also reflected in the building services engineering – in addition to PV panels, deep drilling is used to utilise geothermal energy, a heat pump is used to cover peak loads, and a component activation is used to heat and cool the building.