AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2003, Blaðsíða 18

Halldór Guðmundsson, Architect
Rental Flats by Hrafnista
in Hafnarfjörður
Introduction
Since its founding in 1957,
Hrafnista has emphasised on pro-
viding a variety of high-quality
services for senior citizens. In
June 2001, preparations began
to build 64 rental flats for the eld-
erly on two, three-storey blocks
at the site of Hrafnista in
Hafnarfjörður.
The rental flats are specially
designed to meet the needs of
the elderly. During the design
process, special emphasis was
put on accounting for reduced
mobility and to increase safety as
much as possible.
The goal was to build good, qual-
ity, economical flats for people 60
years and older, enabling them to
be as independent as long as
possible.
All the flats are equipped with a
security/sickness call system.
This connects the flats to the
service shift in Hrafnista. A mod-
ern fire alarm system is also
installed in the buildings.
Residents can also buy service
from Hrafnista, such as food,
hairdressing and pedicure servic-
es, swimming, gymnastics and
boccia. The buildings are planned
so that the inhabitants can enjoy
being in a town and in the coun-
try at the same time. Farms with
grazing cattle and sheep are
found to the west of the build-
ings, and east towards are the
housing areas of Hafnarfjörður,
and the harbour with boats and
ships.
Building Design
ln order to break up the size and
the mass of the buildings, they
are divided up into four units,
which comprise three housing
units. The northernmost unit has
a saddle roof, but southwards,
the two units have single slope
roofs. The housing units are
joined with a connecting building
with a flat roof housing entry,
meeting and sitting rooms.
Towards the south, there is a
garden enclosed by the housing
units and the connecting building.
The northernmost building is clad
on the outside with silver-
coloured, horizontal-corrugated
iron.
The housing units towards the
south are clad with the same
material, but the sides facing the
garden are clad in cedar wood.
Supporting walls by the balconies
are clad in flat grey aluminium
and the balcony handrails in yel-
low „steni.“ Corrugated steel on
the roofs has the same colour as
the walls and the connecting
building is clad in flat grey alu-
minium.
Emphasis was put on making the
flats light, spacious and open.
The corridors are also light as the
units facing the garden have
floor-to-ceiling windows to corri-
dors that overlook the garden.
In the connecting building, there
is a skylight in the roof and open-
ings in the floors between stories
to the sitting and meeting rooms.
There are sliding doors for the
bathrooms to facilitate access
and the showers have a sloping
floor and not the usual bottom.
The bedrooms have sliding
doors, single for the smaller flats
and double for the large ones.
This serves a double purpose. On
one hand to give sick people in
bed the opportunity to keep in
touch with guests and hus-
band/wife in the sitting
room or the kitchen. On the other
hand, the door can be kept open
during the day to make the flat
look more open and spacious.
The kitchens are open and in
direct contact with the sitting
room. Windows in the flats are
large and there are corner win-
dows in the end flats to enjoy the
beautiful view, the lava, Esjan,
Hafnarfjörður and the Faxa-bay.
In the connecting building, there
are sitting rooms on every floor.
On the first floor, there is a meet-
ing hall for the inhabitants for ten-
ants' meetings and other func-
tions. From the hall, you can go
outside into a sheltered garden
enclosed by the blocks of flats
and the connecting building.
There is a parking garage under
the buildings connected to the
flats. The basement is also con-
nected to Hrafnista via a covered
connection between the blocks of
flats and Hrafnista. ■
Design:
Architecture:
Office of Halldór Guðmundsson ehf
Engineering:
VSÓ Ráðgjöf
Site design:
Landark
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