Healthcare/Urbanism/

Sct. Joseph Senior Housing

Project information

  1. Location Copenhagen‚ Denmark
  2. Area11.600 m²
  3. Construction cost233 mill DKK

Project details

  1. Year2016 — 2020
  2. StatusCompleted
  3. Partners Enemærke & Petersen
    Sweco Engineers
  4. Client Bo-Vita,
    City of Copenhagen
  5. Enquiries Lars Hetland
  6. Scope Hospital and health care planning and design
    Residential design
    New Build
    Landscape design
    Culture buildings
    Transformation

Monastry transformation

St. Joseph in Copenhagen has been transformed from a church and monastery into a modern senior housing community, a nursing home and a cultural centre. Our focus in the project was providing elderly citizens with a safe and homely environment with plenty of possibilities for socialising and activities, including communal dining, concerts, exhibitions, bridge club, senior pilates, etc.

I can feel it in the walls that sisters have lived with a very special life. [...]. There is something divine about living here Tine Andersen, citizen of Sct Joseph

Inspired by traditions

The Culture House is inspired by the way monasteries were traditionally the centre of city life - a compact and functional community where everything was connected, had significance and contributed to the community.

Safely confined

Historical heritage and original qualities have been preserved, creating added value for residents, staff and locals in the area. Protected by the monastery walls, the inhabitants have easy access to the cultural centre and recreational gardens from their residencies.

It's fantastic to experience that the thoughts we had at the beginning of the project, about creating a senior district with room for diversity closely knit with the surrounding community, are now reality at St. Joseph Lars Hetland, Head of Healthcare Design at Nordic Denmark

Competition winning proposal

The new buildings subordinate themselves naturally and in an excellent way to the existing very distinctive buildings. At the same time, there is no doubt that this is a modern addition to the existing ones(...).

The facades are built with short facade courses that are offset in relation to each other. This, together with bay windows and French balconies in all nursing homes and terraces facing the monastery square, gives a variation in expression that is both architecturally and functionally assessed as very successful. (…)

The proposal creates a nice hierarchy in the outdoor spaces, and the life that can be in the courtyard does not disturb the homes... The open spaces are very successful in their layout and provide nice smaller spaces and niches that will provide good experiences and a desire to move.

- Excerpt from the judge's report