Singapore, 5 November 2019 – SAA Architects (SAA), a member of Surbana Jurong Group, has earned international acclaim for St. Joseph’s Home, clinching Silver in the healthcare category at the World Architecture News (WAN) Awards 2019. This is the highest accolade received by a Singapore firm at the awards. The WAN Awards is an international award that recognises architectural excellence from around the world.
Design of St. Joseph’s Home
Operated by Catholic Welfare Services, St. Joseph’s Home provides nursing and hospice services for the elderly, regardless of race or religion. SAA designed and delivered the redevelopment of the 139-bed facility into an integrated 412-bed nursing home in 2017.
The design of the nursing home is guided by the Catholic Welfare Services’ philosophy in maintaining a person-centred home that upholds the values of human dignity. The architecture and landscape response imbues urban and universal design principles to create a space that not only enhances the patient and visitor experience, but also maximises engagement and operational efficiency for the care staff who run the home.
Michael Leong, Director, SAA shared, “In designing St. Joseph’s Home, our design approach focused on three key pillars – designing for community, mobility and dignity. Each aspect of the design places residents’ wellbeing at heart; providing for their mobility, engagement and comfort, and enhancing the total quality of care they would receive.”
The redevelopment involves retaining an existing chapel and annex block, with the chapel as the spiritual heart of the home. SAA’s design positions the chapel as the centre of the nursing home, and all communal pockets within the development are designed with vistas towards it – establishing the chapel as a beacon for the development.
To provide a comfortable home for residents, SAA maximised the natural ventilation, daylight and sun shading by orientating every ward at an angle determined by the prevailing winds and sunlight. The architects addressed the needs of each category of residents, paying special attention to those with dementia as they tend to be more sensitive to their environment.
Communal gardens, greenery-lined corridors, planters and vertical greenery are applied throughout the development to infuse pockets of green spaces on every floor. Hence, nature is accessible for even the bedridden and wheelchair-bound regardless of the level they reside on. Residents can enjoy fresh air, sunlight and greenery without having to descend to the ground floor. The result is a ‘home in a garden’ that recreates a domestic ambience conducive for rest and healing.
St. Joseph’s Home is the first in Singapore to integrate a childcare centre into a nursing home. Features such as an intergenerational playground with a wheelchair friendly see-saw facilitate social interactions between the residents and children. These interactions enable the children to learn social interaction and imbues in them a sense of compassion and empathy, while the human interaction improves residents’ emotional well-being.
Sister Geraldine Tan, Catholic Welfare Services, said, “The centre creates a space where everyone can find a place to co-exist – the young, the older, the dying and the sick. This full circle care model is where we can learn to embrace one another to live in harmony.”
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About SAA
SAA is a leading full-service architecture practice headquartered in Singapore. With over 50 years of design and built expertise, we are committed to the pursuit of excellence in the design and delivery of people-oriented architecture that connects communities with their urban environments.
Guided by our core values of being Urbanistic, Humanistic, and Optimistic, our practice delivers projects that connect and engage seamlessly with the built environment; creating meaningful relationships by placing people and communities at the centre of our designs.
Our 200 multinational professionals collaborate closely with partners and clients to respond to design challenges in an increasingly complex, technology-driven world; bringing specialist expertise to the various sectors we engage in.
As a member of the Surbana Jurong Group, SAA has access to increased resources and greater scale to deliver more meaningful spaces across wider communities.
About Surbana Jurong
Surbana Jurong is one of the largest Asia-based urban, infrastructure and management services consulting firms, with close to 70 years of track record in successful project delivery. Headquartered in Singapore, the Surbana Jurong Group of companies comprises SMEC and Robert Bird Group in Australia, Sino Sun in China, AETOS, KTP and SAA in Singapore and B+H in Canada.
Our global talent pool of over 16,000 employees from more than 120 offices in over 40 countries worldwide includes architects, designers, planners, engineers and other specialists, who are driven by progressive thinking and creative ideas to help shape a better future.
Our technical experts deliver best-in-class solutions that cover the entire project life cycle from planning and design, through to delivery and management, and even decommissioning and closure. We provide a full suite of consultancy services across a diverse range of sectors such as aviation, healthcare, hospitality, transport, water and environment, energy and resources.
With a wealth of experience, we have built more than a million homes in Singapore, crafted master plans for more than 30 countries and developed over 100 industrial parks globally, building homes and designing cities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, empowering communities to thrive.
For more information, please visit surbanajurong.com.
For media enquiries, please contact:
SAA Architects
Deurbon Chow
Brand & Communications Manager
Tel: +65 6514 1486
Mobile: +65 9054 9550
Email: deurbon.chowkl@saaarchitects.com.sg
Surbana Jurong
Sheena Kwek
Group Communications & Branding
Tel: +65 6839 8290
Mobile: +65 9438 3851
Email: sheena.kwekyx@surbanajurong.com
Annex: Design Features of St. Joseph’s Home
St. Joseph’s Home is the first in Singapore to integrate a childcare centre into a nursing home. Features such as intergenerationa friendly playground with wheel-chair friendly see-saw facilitate social interactions between the residents and children.
All communal pockets within the development are designed with vistas towards the chapel. Communal gardens, greenery lined corridors on each floor, planters and terracotta façade panels with vertical greenery are applied throughout the development to infuse pockets of green spaces on every floor.
While the terracotta screen facade encloses the landscaped corridors fronting the bedrooms, the living rooms and communal pockets are fully open to maximise day lighting and ventilation. Residents can experience the sight, sound and smell of nature when it rains or shines in the comfort of shelter.
Wide and unobstructed corridors run around the periphery of each floor, empowering residents by facilitating mobility. Bedridden residents are given a chance to enjoy the sunlight and be close to greenery outside their rooms, as the wide corridors allow caregivers to wheel their beds around.
Photos can be downloaded from here.
Please credit Aaron Pocock Photography for all photos
