House of Graceful Aging

FAST VUT - Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Department of Architecture

Project idea

It is a design for a new construction of House of Graceful Aging.The building is located in the centre of the city district called Brno-Ivanovice in the Czech Republic. The front of the proposed structure faces the square in order to complete the view side of the village square and, simultaneously, complete and precisely define the area. Both the ambience and environment of the village are reflected by the layout and height elevation of the design.

The floor plan is divided into four blocks interconnected by connecting necks. By organizing individual blocks of construction around the inner yard, the building builds on the layout of the farm buildings of the existing village development.

Project description

More than a half the land of an irregular shape is occupied by the designed structure while the remaining part of the property is intended to be transformed into parking spaces, an access road and a leisure park. Vertically, the new building is divided in two diverse manners - in the frontage and as a whole. The front of the building adds one vertical dominant to the existing buildings, whose dominance co-creates a coherent look. Notwithstanding the design of the front, the structure of the rest of the new-built is divided into several levels within individual blocks. The main reason for this breakdown is the need to illuminate the entire complex with natural light. Sunlight, thus, falls across the lowest southern single-storey building on to three-storey blocks and, moreover, into the courtyard area. The single-storey block is connected to the two-storey ones by a three-storey block so that the height differences feel continuous. The design of the building and its immediate surroundings is intentionally without barriers. The operation of the proposed home for the elderly should provide users with a quiet, cultured and enriching environment for living with the opportunity to create new social connections.

Technical information

The structure is founded on concrete strip foundations and features a wall construction system. The load-bearing walls are made of insulated ceramic blocks. The ceilings are designed as reinforced concrete slabs. The rigid and stable structure is formed by the load-bearing walls, ceilings, and a reinforced concrete ring beam, which is an integral part of the reinforced concrete ceiling.

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