Name of the residential
care centre Casa Cabrini
Company Italian Aged Care
Address 33 Kent Road
City/Town Marangaroo
State/Province Western Australia ZIP/Postal Code 6064
Country Australia
Email Address todd.p@kpa-architects.com Contact Person Todd Paterson, Director of
KPA Architects Web site or audio-visual material
https://kpashare.egnyte.com/fl/UcAdELQqvQ
Vision
The design intent set out to encompass the Mission of Villa Terenzio. This mission is “to provide an excellent standard of care within a cultural and spiritual community, enabling an optimum quality of life in a home-like environment”. Casa Cabrini caters for older persons with dementia, transitioning into dementia and without dementia. The layout of the building has been designed to balance the needs of the residents whilst maintaining efficiencies for staffing and servicing.
Refer to additional information for more background.
How well does the design of the building support this vision: self-report
Extremely well.
What are the most important elements in design
z Safety
z Unobtrusive safety
z Spaces that are of a domestic scale
z Good lines of sight to help people living with dementia to see the key places they want to go to z Good lines of sight for supervision of people living
with dementia
z Easily seen wayfinding cues
z Easily found and unobstructed access to a garden, courtyard or outside space
z Opportunities to bring in personal items z Provision of places that are shared with the
surrounding community
z Being designed with a specific vision of how people living with dementia should be supported
Plan
The internal circulation has been designed to remove the need for ‘dead ends’, which in turn helps reduce confusion for residents and enables continual paths of wandering. All corridors have relief of natural light through the use of lightwells or are 'flushed out' at the ends through cleverly located lounge and sitting common areas.
Nurse stations, offices and stores are located centrally to reduce travel distances for staff to enable them to increase their time with residents. As shown in this image, the nurse office is close to the dining room, which is also used as a communal and activity space.
Common areas are located along circulation paths to the outside of the building, offering views of surrounding activity and outlook to the distant sunset.
All common areas receive an abundance of natural light and ventilation for personal comfort and improved building performance, filtering throughout the building.
Central dining spaces take advantage of sunsets for evening meals, while the ground level dining space provides opportunity for outdoor dining in the adjacent alfresco area under the vines.
The outlook from the lounge and sitting areas, over newly created promenades, surrounding tree tops and streets, provide a point of interest and conversation for the residents.
78 DESIGN DIGNITY DEMENTIA – RESIDENTIAl CARE CENTRES
Overview
Casa Cabrini opened in 2019, and was designed as a residential care centre for people living with dementia It accommodates 50–99 residents, some of whom have dementia. The centre is part of a larger site of over 100 residents. Within the site there are designated areas for people with dementia, and these residents can go to other parts of the site without staff supervision.
Trip hazards such as uneven surfaces, steps and highly polished floors are very well avoided in internal and external areas within the centre. Safety features such as fences, door locks or other barriers to movement have not been camouflaged so they are somewhat obvious.
Places residents may wish to access such as a toilet, garden or activity space, are easy to see from where they spend most of their time. Staff can also easily observe residents from their staff station and around the centre.
A lot of emphasis has been placed on creating a quieter environment by reducing noise levels and clutter. More moderate attention has been paid to camouflaging doors that people with dementia are not intended to use, with the same emphasis on the use of colour, contrast and lighting to highlight the things residents may wish to locate.
Residents are able to access the inside and outside areas with very clear and unobstructed routes to and from the centre.
Within the centre, as residents move around, moderate attention has been paid to objects and activities to involve them along the way, with a greater emphasis on establishing engagement destinations at the end of the corridors.
The style of furniture is somewhat familiar to the residents with a few decorations, ornaments or artworks that are familiar. Residents are encouraged to bring in their own familiar objects.
There are many places within the centre where residents can choose to be a small group, and a few places where they can choose to be on their own.
All rooms within the centre are clearly identifiable and each has a very clear purpose.
The centre does not provide amenities or spaces that can be shared with the local community.
Additional information
EXTENDED VISIoN
Casa Cabrini designed by KPA Architects is a new 84-bed, three-storey residential care home. Being part of the larger Villa Terenzio located in Marangaroo, Perth, WA, it is the first stage of redevelopment for the larger existing residential care site. The design intent set out to encompass the Mission of Villa Terenzio. This mission is “to provide an excellent standard of care within a cultural and spiritual community enabling an optimum quality of life in a home-like environment”.
Casa Cabrini caters for older people with dementia, without dementia and transitioning into dementia. The layout of the building has been designed to balance the needs of the residents whilst maintaining efficiencies for staffing and servicing. To break up long corridors and remove the institutional feel these types of buildings can sometimes bring, KPA introduced a unique design trick of shifting one half of the building over. This design innovation creates interest in the floor plate, allows light to filter through and gives opportunity of wayfinding through the use of identifiable walls of colour.
Lounges, dining rooms and activity areas are clearly identifiable, face a view of landscaping and are evenly spread throughout each floor plate. Each common area on the ground floor leads out to courtyard spaces, each providing a place of seclusion and socialising.
The aesthetic of Casa Cabrini is modern with strong Italian integrity and classic familiarity. The new building showcases a simple palette of materials that sets a new language for Villa Terenzio, whilst being sympathetic and co-existing harmoniously with the existing residential care buildings. A central piazza area acts as a common focal point and outdoor wandering landscaped space for residents. Ornamental grape vines grow vertically and over the external colonnade spaces, reminiscent of the Italian alfresco area where families would gather, sit and dine on long tables – a familiarity to many residents.