Vinzenzgasse Nursing Home, Vienna (AT)

The new building for the House of Mercy is a living environment for its elderly residents, a working environment for employees and pupils, and a world of visits and experiences for relatives and users of public and semi-public facilities – a dense, urban, lively place with high-quality interior and exterior spaces, with open, communicative charisma and meeting places for a wide variety of public, but also with the necessary degree of protection, intimacy and openness.
The complementary, cross-shaped motifs of the central body are closely related to each other. Both blocks of buildings are focused on the Vinzenzgasse in order to support an intensive exchange between the schools and the retirement home and to achieve the highest possible frequencies and thus liveliness and urban vitality by concentrating all accesses in this area. The gymnasiums illuminated from above are sunk, which releases the school grounds and preserves the park-like character. This creates high-quality exterior spaces and an identity of its own for the individual schools – despite possible close structural interconnection.
The appearance of the House of Mercy characterises the newly defined place with a cosy charisma. This is achieved by the contrast between the friendly, fresh colours of the window frames and curtains and the timeless, elegant, light frames of the openings and the reserved, warm dark facade colouring. The lively play of the cantilevered bay windows of the double rooms in the street space and the light, transparent, inward permeable base reinforce this effect.

Client: Institut Haus der Barmherzigkeit
Architecture: Dietrich | Untertrifaller
Competition: 2008