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The single rooms, measuring
25 square meters, offer
plenty of opportunity for individual
expression (top left).
The large, communicative
communal areas are color
coded (bottom left and top
right). The residents are particularly
proud of the chapel
(bottom right).
professional services contracts, envisaged the new building
occupying only 10,000 square meters, as opposed to
the 15,000 square meters previously designated. The
remaining 5,000 square meters were sold and the profits
went back into the care home’s funds. An exclusive residential
development for senior citizens was built on the
site, offering senior-friendly homes with the option of
using St. Nikolaus’s services and ultimately moving into
the neighboring care home.
Color coding
Despite this considerable additional income, we can term
St. Nikolaus, with a construction volume of around €18
million, a low-budget project. However, it is one where
the possibilities were exploited more or less to the full.
You enter the building through the protruding central
section, which in bold ocher looks almost Mediterranean.
The building features a stairwell and two elevators. On
» In Practice
each floor, a group of 15 residents shares a wing. To aid
orientation, each group has its own color and name. The
photo boards on the section walls are intended to help
especially those residents suffering from geronto-psychiatric
illnesses such as dementia. Here, residents can see
pictures of streets and squares in Munich they may be
familiar with. A special area for dementia-sufferers is
located on the ground floor of one wing. Special measures
have also been undertaken here for patients at risk of
running away, for instance doors protected by number
codes. As a result of optimized daily practice, today at St.
Nikolaus dementia patients are cared for together with
other residents in a residential unit. Outside, panels along
the façade create further colored accents.
Integrative services
It is particularly unbeneficial precisely for elderly people
to be left on their own and receive no motivation or
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