THE GARDENS ELDERLY CENTER

Location: Orebro (Sweden)
Architect: Marge Architects
Year: 2016

Awards:

• Winner of the Sveriges Arkitekter Housing Prize (2017)
• Nominated for the Kasper Salin Prize (2017)

Building description

The design of the Gardens Elderly Centre echoes recent research that indicates that elderly people’s well-being in care centers is strongly correlated with attractive green outdoor environments and social interaction.

The spatial design of Centre aims to arrange comfortable homes for the elderly, with easy access to their own gardens, outdoor spaces and shared facilities and to enhance social interactions between residents, staff and relatives. Residents can enter gardens directly from the ground level or through roof terraces on the second floor. From inside, residents have visual contact with the courtyard gardens through large windows, which increases the sense of security and invite them to explore the outdoor environment and interact with the other residents.

The Gardens Centre is designed to be LEED certified a at Gold level. The materials chosen are robust and sustainable, with low environmental impact and low maintenance requirements. The wooden façade in the inner courtyards offers a high level of isolation. Parts of the roof are planted with sedum plants – such green roofs are an efficient way to retain and filter rainwater, which is then led to the inner courtyards, cultivation beds and the surrounding meadows. The vegetation (trees, plants and herbs), together with the water, offer a natural habitat for insects and birds, contributing to the local area’s biodiversity.

The exterior of the building is covered with fiber cement patterns of different colours and shades corresponding to the tones of the surrounding green fields.