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ALUCOBOND® | Forms & Elements

NOT ONLY BUT ALSO Project: Geriatric Care Baumgarten, Vienna I Austria Architects: ganahl ifsits architects / silbermayr welzl architects, Vienna I Austria Construction: riveted Year of Construction: 2013 Product: ALUCOBOND® A2 Silvermetallic Forms & Elements 02/2015 6 Sometimes distinctiveness is not key in making a building architecturally fit for purpose; it is the way it facilitates the concept of “not only but also”. This concept applies to the two newly built care homes at the Viennese Geriatric Centre Baumgarten. In a park-like landscape, grand buildings, in some cases listed buildings, have stood for over a century. At the northern border, Ganahl Ifsits Architects have constructed an atrium building and a long oblong block housing twelve care wards, 314 patients, therapy and spa areas, communal and event space as well as shops and services on the ground floor. Caring for patients, some of whom are suffering from dementia, is the concept which dictates the building’s architecture. The design needs to define borders and areas clearly, to provide clear visual orientation and a compact, functional room layout. On the other hand, privacy, individual freedom and space, as well as a variety of different recreation rooms ensure comfort and happiness. By interrelating the areas, the architects have achieved the right balance between seclusion and society, between clear yet varied structures, between transparency and privacy. This means that one particular use is strictly confined to a certain floor or the wing of the building. Yet, there is still a visual link via the inner courtyard, a sunken courtyard and the sloping parkland. The façade plays a significant role: large loggias with screen-printed glass balustrades offer the residents a buffer zone between interior and exterior and by manually adjusting the floor to ceiling folding wooden shutters the loggia can be opened or closed. The façade cladding is ALUCOBOND® silver metallic – this offers an attractive contrast to the wood, a muted background to the residents’ own individual taste in decorating the loggias and to the varying façades of the existing neighbouring buildings. ALUCOBOND® panels fronting the floor slabs emphasise the long bands of wooden shutters and glass façade. All photos: ganahl ifsits architects / Werner Huthmacher I Die ALUCOBOND®-Tafeln vor den Geschossdecken betonen die langen Bänder aus Holzläden und Glasfassade.


ALUCOBOND® | Forms & Elements
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