Colours of sustainability

The organisation was initially founded for tuberculosis treatment and currently employs about 400 people looking after 18.000 home-care patients every year. Additionally, about 1.000 students and interns work for the organisation in the nursing sector.

Remy Quenon and his office Urbalinea from Lille were commissioned with the design of the urgently needed new building. The new two-storey complex with a floor area of 4,200 square metres was inaugurated in June 2012. About 200 employees working here now benefit from the amenities of the ecologically sustainable building concept. The load-bearing structure, the properties in terms of heat and sound as well as the cladding consisting of large glass surfaces, and the coloured zinc plates testify to an architectural concept that does justice to the historic origin of the location – whilst simultaneously complying with all current building standards.

The A-shaped building encloses two interior courtyards, where mineral elements and lush green areas harmoniously merge to form a therapeutic and conclusive whole. Francois Haering, architect and planner responsible for the project, elucidates the motives behind his choice of paving: “The shape of the building induced us to lay out two interior courtyards with individual designs on an area of 1,000 square metres: the courtyard with a southward orientation opens up towards the outside and has a rather botanical character. The other one has an inward orientation, is dominated by a mineral appearance and was adapted to the building’s resonant behaviour. At the same time, it was important to integrate the existing pathways. This was the reason to design the blue paving using ‘Blenheim Terca’ by Wienerberger, which perfectly fulfilled these requirements. This paver, which is 100-percent natural, unvarying and low-maintenance, suggested itself for the creation of a link between tradition and modernism, aesthetics and sustainability. Furthermore, we used the Blenheim paver to generate a contrast arising from three materials and three colours: the mineral element with blue paving, the metal one with red façades and finally the botanical element with green vegetation.”