Today, Norway’s first dementia village, Carpe Diem in Bærum municipality, was named Health Building of the Year, after tough competition from Strømmehaven in Kristiansand and Soltun Nursing Home in Sola. The jury highlighted that the project lives up to its vision of “Like a Home” and also praised the choice of materials, excellent outdoor areas, and social zones in their reasoning.

“First, I must say that we are incredibly proud of the project, and it is a great honor to receive this award. We look forward to seeing Carpe Diem being fully utilized and that we have truly succeeded in creating the framework for a good life for people with dementia,” says Johannes Eggen, Senior Partner and Head of Health at Nordic Office of Architecture.

The project draws on ideas from the dementia village De Hogeweyk in the Netherlands but is adapted to Norwegian conditions. The facility is built as a closed village where residents can safely continue to live their lives as normally as possible within secure boundaries. The project is divided into two levels of care, with 136 housing units in shared living arrangements and 22 enhanced dementia care units.

The goal is to create a home, an inviting and pleasant place for residents, their visitors, and staff. Here, one has access to the functions they are accustomed to from daily life and can visit the hairdresser, the pub, and the grocery store, to name a few – all within safe boundaries.

The professional jury highlighted the following:

• “The choice of materials gives a warm expression, and it is positive to have outdoor areas with the possibility for gardening. Pleasant indoor areas, especially with an open kitchen solution for the residents.”
• “The interior is not institutional and uses nice colors that support this. The main concept/vision of the project ‘like a home’ is reflected in all solutions.”
• “It is positive that the care center is divided into smaller detached buildings, each with its own entrance from the outside. Not least in light of the ongoing health crisis due to COVID-19 – it can help prevent/isolate potential spread of infection.”

“We thank all our partners at HENT and Norconsult, the fantastic landscape architects at Bjørbekk & Lindheim, and not least a great and engaged client who made it possible to make this something truly special. A special thanks to Robert Ritzmann and our fantastic team of employees at Nordic who created exciting and varied architecture with good, robust solutions that meet the strict requirements for hospital buildings,” says a clearly proud Eggen.

In addition to the jury, about 600 people voted on the various projects. Here, Carpe Diem received very positive feedback from the public:

“One of the best buildings for a very vulnerable group of people. Everything has been thought of with ❤️.” “Nice colors and good offerings. An option I hope exists when I and my generation turn 80.” “Innovative, forward-looking, puts dementia on the map.” “I think it is really nice, and maybe even an inspiration for the future in healthcare? It must be reassuring for relatives to ‘send’ someone there to a small village built for the disease. Healing architecture!” “An exquisite building in every way. A place to thrive, not institutional, the future of elderly care!” “This is where I want my loved ones to be able to live.” “This award goes not only to all the skilled actors behind Carpe Diem but also to the 80,000 to 100,000 people living with dementia in Norway today and their relatives. The tailored treatment offered at the dementia village will help improve the quality of life for this patient group, and it feels very meaningful to have contributed to this,” says Kjetil Ruud, head of the building and real estate market area at Norconsult.

“We really hope that both staff and residents are satisfied with Carpe Diem and that it has become a vibrant and good place to live and work. We are proud of this award, but the real victory is seeing satisfied users of the project,” nods Eggen. The award is presented by Nohrcon in connection with the annual conference on the future of care homes and nursing homes.

Facts about Carpe Diem Dementia Village

Location: Dønski, Bærum municipality

Type of building: Nursing home/residential and treatment center

Construction type: New build

Completed: September 2020

Area: Psychiatric building 18,000 m²

Construction cost: 412 million NOK excluding VAT

The team behind the Carpe Diem Dementia Village

Client: Bærum municipality

Client representative: OPAK AS

Architect: Nordic – Office of Architecture AS

Interior architect: Cadi AS

Landscape architect: Bjørbekk & Lindheim AS

HVAC, electrical, building technology, building physics, acoustics, engineering geology, geotechnics, ecology, traffic/road and water and sewage: Norconsult AS

Contractor: HENT AS