Homes for senior citizens | Peter Zumthor

"The building is designed for residents who can still live on their own and look after themselves. It faces the Kronengasse and the old center of Masans. At the rear is the existing old people's home, whose nursing facilities can be used as required. Throughout the complex, consisting of 21 apartments, a guest room and a staff room, all connected by external corridors, one can see evidence of the declared design objectives, i.e. the creation of a rural atmosphere in a suburban setting, the sensuous presence of the materials (a basic triad of exposed concrete, tufa and larchwood), and clarity and legibility of construction detail. We want the building to seem relaxed and informal, like a big ‘rock’ in the open expanses of a mountain landscape, expertly worked with precise, careful, perhaps even old-fashioned craftsmanship. 
The plan of the building is based on the idea of solid elements (supporting masonry piers, solid sanitary blocks, nonsupporting wooden boxes) placed at regular intervals in the overall ground plan within a large, flowing continuum of space.
The residents are welcome to furnish as they please their section of the large entrance porch to the east, which they overlook from their kitchen windows, and they make ample use of this opportunity. The sheltered balcony niches and the living room bow (bay) windows on the other side face west, up the valley, towards the setting sun". Peter Zumthor

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