132 senior citizens have moved into Vienna's new San Damiano nursing home designed by architects Schenker Salvi Weber on the edge of the Hietzinger Cottage district.

Close to the Lainzer Tiergarten, in Vienna's 13th district, the San Damiano home is run privately by the religious community of the "Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity", publicly funded. The challenge was to make the best possible use of the complex site on a slope with a beautiful view over Vienna and to create diverse spatial atmospheres and exciting visual axes. For the residents, a homely and cheerful atmosphere was to be created with bright rooms for sociable togetherness on the one hand and possibilities for retreat on the other, and corridors were to be dispensed with without using a common repertoire of forms from the nursing and hospital sector. For the limited budget, an architecturally high quality was generated for less well-off senior citizens, which is exemplary in Austria. A complex plot with miraculous sight lines to the Wiener Wald and over the city: A circulation spine unites four square volumes into an overall form, which is embedded in the slope at an angle. The L-shaped building is situated at the edge of the building line, creating a comforting separation between the street side and the more intimate therapy park at the back. Warm colors, materials with pleasant haptics, carpets, and wood create a harmonious and homely ambience for the elderly inhabitants. A family-like environment and retreat in one: The individual units are arranged radially around a central living area, where the inhabitants can meet each other, eat, or cook together. A wood façade staggered per floor oscillates between bronze and silver-gray, subtly weaving the windows into the building volume. Horizontal and vertical slats articulate the harmonious outer wall. The built landscape becomes part of the hill. The levels flow into the park on the slope and invite for strolls. Old trees set the relaxing atmosphere of the place.

Team:

Client: Franziskanerinnen von der christlichen Liebe

Project Team: Eva Andrasova, Hannah Niemand, Christian Rübenacker, Michael Salvi, Andres Schenker, Pia Schmidt, Rostislav Stoklasek, Tina Tobisch, Katalin Tóth, Zsófia Varga, Thomas Weber, Philipp Wemmer

Statics: Tragwerkplanung Freller ZT

Project Management: Bauwert Köstenberger

Building Physics & Acoustics: IBO – Österreichisches Institut für Bauen und Ökologie GmbH

Building Services Engineering: Technisches Büro Herbst

Fire Safety: IMS Brandschutz

Light Design: Designbüro Christian Ploderer

Interior Design Chapel: Wilhelm Scheruebl

Elektroplanung: Ingenieurbüro Tauss

Landscape Architecture: DnD Landschaftsplanung

Visualization: MISS 3

Model Building: Modellwerkstatt Gerhard Stocker

Photography: David Schreyer