At Presteheia, a residential home and housing for the elderly is being constructed in which the physical organisation of the complex creates efficient, time-saving logistical solutions for the staff, who will thereby be able to devote the maximum amount of time to the residents and their own professional development. The project is the result of a comprehensive process in which, via interdisciplinary co-operation, the client, users, experts and advisers identified the recognised and unrecognised needs in relation to the new residential home. These considerations, jointly made at an early stage of the process, provided a foundation for the design of the building's organisation and architecture.
To maintain optimum outdoor areas, the development is concentrated in larger units along the site's periphery, thereby creating two large internal courtyard and garden spaces. The eastern courtyard forms a spacious and inviting arrivals area, while the western garden is the setting for a large, well-illuminated and screened-off outdoor area containing a garden of the senses. The centre building, with its day centre and staff functions, is centrally located in the complex between two residential wings, thereby forming the hub of communication and movement.
The sloping terrain on the site is absorbed by the stepped form of the development in a storey located towards the site's south-western edge. The stepped form ensures that the building's scale is adapted to its surroundings: mountainside, a kindergarten, and detached and terraced houses. The development is tallest at the side of the mountain and lowest towards the houses.
