Installing large format tiles – An interview with

“The design of the nursing home is guided by the Catholic Welfare Services’ philosophy of maintaining a person-centred home that upholds the values of human dignity.”

- An interview with Michael Leong, Director, SAA Architects

SAA Architects (SAA), a member of Surbana Jurong Group, recently earned international acclaim for St. Joseph’s Home (StJH) located in Singapore. It clinched a Silver award in the healthcare category at the World

Architecture News (WAN) Awards 2019. Operated by

Catholic Welfare Services, StJH provides nursing and hospice

services for the elderly, regardless of race or religion. In this

issue of SEAB, Michael Leong, Director, SAA Architects, shares the

design approach of the nursing home, which puts the wellbeing of

the occupants at the heart of its design. Photos: © Aaron Pocock

Photography

Michael Leong

SEAB: Congratulations to SAA Architects! What does this mean to you and to your team and your company to receive this international award? MICHAEL: Thank you! We are grateful for the win, but more importantly, the recognition of people-centric design that this award signifies. We are thankful to StJH for their guidance and the opportunity to be a part of this meaningful project – this award is theirs, as much as it is ours. May this project plant seeds for a more dignified aging!

SEAB: Why did you choose to enter the WAN Awards 2019 with this project? MICHAEL: To us, this project clearly exemplified the WAN Awards criteria for the Healthcare category: “Championing human-centred designs that enhance not only the patient/ visitor experience but maximise operational efficiency and help improve patient outcomes – whether a hospital, clinic, care home or surgery.”

Joseph’s nursing home? What challenges or constraints did you encounter in the entire project? MICHAEL: The design of the nursing home is guided by the Catholic Welfare Services’ philosophy of maintaining a person-centred home that upholds the values of human dignity. The architecture and landscape response imbues urban and universal design principles to create a space that not only enhances the patient and visitor experience, but also maximises engagement and operational efficiency for the care staff who run the home.

One of the main challenges was to retain in the new development the familiarity of the old home, which was a single-storey built environment in a lush, open, greeneryfilled compound. The new home had to also be optimised for comfort of the residents and staff, while at the same time addressing the needs of each category of resident.

Our design response was to recreate this “ground-level environment” at every level, providing every resident the familiar experience typically found in a single-level compound. Negative spaces open to natural ventilation and

“The architecture and landscape response imbues urban and universal design principles to create a space that not only enhances the patient and visitor experience, but also maximises engagement and operational efficiency for the care staff who run the home.” – Michael Leong