Community centre and senior housing in Stuttgart

The Catholic parish of St. Antonius wanted parish rooms and twelve apartments for the elderly, all situated directly next to its church. The idea behind this is to offer the elderly people, who are mostly alone, the possibility of continuing to live in their accustomed surroundings. The social centre included in the building will take over their care.

The church is a fine brick structure from the early 1920s and stands in a densely-populated urban residential area dating from the same period. A preschool facility at the rear of the site also belongs to the complex and adjoins the courtyard between the church and the new building.

We positioned the building along the street to the east, but in its upper floors we left a large opening between the stair and the apartments to offer a view of the church. As a result, the upper floors with the entrances to the apartments retreat slightly from the street space – which shields the residents from views directly into their dwellings. The apartments open out with balconies looking west.

The complex accommodates a large community hall on its ground floor with an adjoining room for group meetings, the social centre, offices and a fair trade shop.

The building has a double-wythe façade with an exterior layer of bricks. The vertical joints are fashioned without any mortar, in order to emphasise the horizontality of the masonry and lend the house greater lightness.

The parish’s concept of keeping its elderly members in their familiar surroundings has worked eminently well.