Residential Home for the Elderly, Masans, Chur, Switzerland, 1992-93 by Peter Zumthor

Residential Home For Elderly, Masans

Architect: Peter Zumthor

Location: Chur, Switzerland Completed: 1992-1993 Program: Health / Public Welfare / Apartments Typology: Row / Block Units and Unit Types: 1 unit type / 21 units 1 guest 1 ward room Indoor Outdoor Ratio: 1/3 Density: 112 Dwelling Units / Acre Parking Spaces Per Unit: N/A Cost: N/A

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Contents

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SITE PLAN LOGIC

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Scaled PLANS and SECTIONS

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Scaled ELEVATION / FACADES

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CONCEPT / IDEA, UNIT ANALYSIS, and STRUCTURAL ORDERING SYSTEMS

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MATERIALS

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CIRCULATION, PUBLIC and PRIVATE, PEDESTRIAN and AUTOMOBILE RELATIONSHIPS, and HUMAN SAFETY

10 NATURAL LIGHT and VENTILATION, and SCALE 11 LIVABILITY and CONCLUSION 3

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Cadonaustrasse

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Kronengasse

Cadonaustrasse

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2

gasse

Hirsch weg

Kronen

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1 Zumthor Elderly House 2 Retirement home 3 Senior Citizen Center 4 Parking N (Scale: 1/128�=1’)

DN

DN

DN

DN

Level 2

UP

UP

Level 1

Scale 1/32” = 1’-0”

Level 2 9' - 5" Level 1 0' - 0" Basement - 9' - 6"

PRIVATE

SEMI-PRIVATE

COMMON

Scale 1/16” = 1’-0” 5

Level 1

Elevation - West

Level 1

Elevation - East 6

Scale 1/32” = 1’-0”

7.5 m

“Bay window in the living room looks out onto the evening sun” -Thomas Durisch

Corridor Concept: “The entrance hall is larger than a regular corridor so that the occupants can set up the area outside their apartment with their own furniture and personal articles from their former homes, this creates a comfortable space for people to sit and have a chat with their neighbors and be social, as they once did in the village on a bench outside the house.” – Thomas Durisch

UP

UP

2.5 m

9m

“The balconies are placed in niches protected from the wind” -Thomas Durisch

Corridor Concept: “Kitchen window opens out to the entrance hall and encourages social contact.”

– Thomas Durisch

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“the materials used-came out of the idea of offering somthing that the occupants knew, liked, and could easily use” - Zumthor

Exposed Concrete

Tufa Masonry

Waxed Larch-Wood

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16’ 0’

N 32’

Public Private Buildings Automobile Entrance/Exit Pedestrian 9

Lighting/Natural Ventilation

Level 2 9' - 5" Level 1 0' - 0"

SW

Basement - 9' - 6"

Scale 1/16” = 1’

Building Scale

65’

45’

35’

20’ 30’

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Residential Home For Elderly, Masans In Regards To: Livability Visual Identity - Seen through the buildings materiality, wood and stone. Stone to create this idea of a rock relaxed in the mountinous landscape. Wood to maintain a warm relaxed feeling for the elderly residents.

Dwelling Access - Zumthor developed an interactive corridor space. In addition to the corridor space, the kitchen is placed toward the entrance of the unit to continue this interaction of people indoors and those outdoors.

Intended Uses - Kitchen placement is key for the interaction aspect. Using the single corridor there is opportunity to continue this flow of outdoor space (corridor), indoor space (kitchen, living space), and back outdoors (balcony). The bedroom space is intentionally blocked off and isolated from the rest of the unit in order to highlight this.

Flexibiility / Personalization - The project lacks flexibility for the user as all aspects are fixed. Furniture is about the only personalization factor present.

Relevance to Urban Context - Despite the repitition of units, the indoor / outdoor relationship is very much present and at the forefront of this project which is extremely relevant to the urban context as well as the materiality.

Findings: Conclusion - The project is successful in that the architects intentions are met through the choice of materiality and the arrangement of space. Perhaps where the project has a downfall is that all units are the exact same and lack that quality of difference. It does speak to the effeciency of the building and given that with a health or welfare building one might need maximum effeciency to be maintained. The building in this way remains as standard through the entire project. As described the topics of livibility are more present than not and brings up the topic of an Architect having to sacrifice or change maybe a rule or idea in order to either satisfy the client or effeciency of the building itself. In closing the building is understandably straightforeward with its minimalistic approach, focus on human interraction and its favorable material choice.

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