House for psychosocial care and living, Innsbruck

There had long been a search for a municipal use of a very small plot in the green area between the Inn river and a densely populated city district with high-rise buildings from the 1960s. Finally it ended up with giving a use to a „House for psychosocial care and living“.
The building provides a temporary home for people with chronic mental illnesses. Its special location on the edge of a public green zone is reflected in design of common areas, where an outdoor area with entrance and covered terrace links the building with its green surrounding. There are 14 small apartments distributed over four floors between the kitchen and common area on the ground floor and the multifunctional use of space on top floor. These allow the residents private space within a supervised environment. The coloured visible-concrete facade made with prefabricated insulated wall elements strengthens the monolithic character of the building on the green belt along the riverbank. Due to its innovative energy technology with all-electric heating and hot water, supplied by full-surface frameless photovoltaic facade in the south side, the building, which is designed as a passive house, is being monitored by the University of Innsbruck as a research project.

What makes this project one-of-a-kind?
“Prefabricated, colored, core-insulated concrete elements from the company. Progress used as wall-ceiling-roof with finished surfaces are enclosing the polygonally shaped volume. The roof slope, which arises due to local spacing rules from the 3rd floor onwards, was the biggest technical challenge here…“