Geriatric Centre Donaustadt, a senior living community in Vienna, is designed to flex and adapt to residents’ changing desires and needs. The 418-bed center houses residential and medical services, including dementia and neurological care, over 475,075 square feet.
Architecture firm Delugan Meissl Associated Architects (Vienna) sought to bring multiple views of the surrounding urban landscape inside to allow residents with varying mobility issues to get access to the outdoors. The community also offers different types of environments for socialization, including dayrooms and transitional areas between public and private spaces, such as garden zones, pathways, and terraces.
The entrance lobby is a place for residents to sit and watch the comings and goings of the day, as well as catch views of the adjacent kindergarten, making it possible for residents to experience another generation, says Dietmar Feistel, a partner at Delugan Meissl. “We thought a lot about how life changes for those who have lived inside their own four walls and then move voluntarily into this high-quality building,” he says. “Not everyone can and wants to integrate into a new community right away. We created a range of possible building uses for the residents.”
The exterior is designed to reflect the surrounding community using wood and glass materials. Inside, designers employed a combination of materials, including linoleum, terrazzo, parquet, and tile flooring and wood veneer and laminate furniture.
The project, which started in 2011, included 358,438 square feet of remodeled space and 116,250 square feet of new construction. The connection to the existing building created two interior courtyards, which feature art installations by Mischer Traxler that are designed to enliven the spaces.
“With slow but steady movement, the two installations don’t just provide a scenery that changes constantly, they also present the gesture of ‘meeting’ the frequently immobile residents on the various building levels halfway with this cybernetic sculpture,” Feistel says.