New care home in historically sensitive environment

Marge Arkitekter won the competition to design a new care home at Pilhamn, Ingarö together with contractors JM and Malmegårds Fastighets AB. The new addition enables local residents to remain in the area even in old age, close to the church and a stone’s throw from the old village centre.

The immediate area is characterised by listed buildings: a school building, teachers’ quarters, a church hall, and a local folklore museum. Remains of old orchards can be seen between the characteristic, red-painted gables. To mediate the buildings large scale the development is divided into several volumes, whose short sides all face the church and the old village centre, creating the illusion of several, smaller buildings, all featuring the characteristic red gables that are typical of the local area. The new care home is designed with a modified timber architecture that connects to the existing buildings in their design, colour (red and white) and material.

The care home is laid out on two floors. Each floor has outdoor areas in two directions and views both to a courtyard and to the surrounding landscape. The courtyard features cultivation possibilities and there is a recreational conservatory with a fireplace adjacent to the main entrance. Our ambition has been to create an as home-like an environment as possible, well integrated in the surrounding historic industrial environment.

Built with a wooden structure and roof-top solar cells, the care home achieves a silver certification from the Sweden Green Building Council.