Studio Gugger | Senevita Elderly Home

AREA

11'000 M2

Budget

18M CHF

TIMELINE

2010 - 2015

Elderly Home and Sheltered Home, Limmatfeld

The ‘Limmatfeld’ project in Dietikon on the outskirts of Zürich can be viewed in two stages. The first, a selected competition, proposes the design of a mixed-use urban block including high-rise housing, offices, a hotel and an elderly home with additional associated sheltered housing units.

Our design takes a holistic overview of the site and its requirements to propose a series of distinct volumes around the perimeter of the site with a raised communal park in the centre. The most prominent of these elements is a slim residential tower that is designed to maximise the optimal relationship between efficiency and architectural quality. Positioned into the corner of the plot, its compact, folded footprint minimises the shadow cast over its neighbours. This cranked volume provides each of its apartments with outstanding, expansive interiors that face in two directions and are all provided with direct sunlight at least once a day.

Through efficient planning and careful design, the entirety of the allocated program required for the competition was accommodated well within the maximum allowable volume. This abundance of volume provided us with an opportunity to offer the developer an additional building on the site capable of housing further residential units or office space.

As a result of this competition we were commissioned with the design and execution of over a third of the program on the site. We have subsequently designed and developed two buildings; the Elderly Home and Sheltered Housing which are both now under construction.

The two buildings are united at ground level by a common entrance foyer, restaurant and support spaces. This single-storey plinth ties both buildings to one another and reinforces the urban grid of the new development. To the interior of the buildings a large elevated garden offers the residents a sheltered and secure communal outside space.

The geometry of the buildings above is similar although distinct differences provide each with its own subtle character. The broad horizontal bands of their façades wrap the complex creating a clear identity for the two separate elements, alluding to their different functions. Great care has been taken to ensure that their design combines sufficient privacy for the individual units with an abundance of daylight as well as clear views from sitting and lying positions within the interior of the rooms. Each room and apartment is provided with generous outside living space in the form of a balcony or a sheltered loggia.