Sensual materials for a new private care home
Surrounded by large trees, residents can watch the changing of the seasons outside their bay windows in the newly built private care home, but also enjoy the lush garden of the large green courtyard.
Fribo Greve is a newly opened, privately run independent care home with a total of 75 places. It was developed for Greve Municipality in cooperation with NREP, and the Nordic Office of Architecture designed the project, which is among the first modern private care homes in Denmark.
Wood is a recurring material at the Fribo care home, even though it is generally clad in brick. The lowest of the building's three floors, which houses the entrance hall and several communal facilities, features vertical wooden strips on the facade. All street-facing homes have bay windows on the second and third floors, which also feature wooden strips, which helps to give the building a human scale and better views from the residences. The square-shaped structure frames the garden space, which is a major attraction of Fribo care home.
The internal facades are also largely clad in wood, which emphasises the building's more sensually appealing interior.
The courtyard contains small, furnished terraces in the sun or shade, a greenhouse and a small lake in the middle.
A safe home for residents
A Danish friplejehjem is a privately owned care home that has private financing in addition to public funding. Such care homes are not directly regulated by the state as with self-governing institutions, giving independent care homes such as Fribo Greve more autonomy in terms of how they organise their day-to-day activities whether large or small.
The focus at Fribo Greve is on bringing residents together and ensuring a safe and homely environment. This is why the architecture is based on creating community, activities and views of the outside world through bright and friendly interior design with several communal facilities.
A new daycare institution will be built next to the care home so that the generations can meet each other and share their everyday lives.
Good indoor climate without draughts
From the Fribo courtyard, a large glass section provides a view into the continuous stairwell, which gives a sense of orientation within the building. The staircase has fine wooden details. The garden space can also be enjoyed from the large internal terraces that belong to each communal living room.
Troldtekt acoustic panels were chosen as sound-absorbing material for all communal rooms. This provides a tactile surface that accentuates the interior design with wooden-based materials and light natural colours.
Nordic Office of Architecture (formerly Rubow Arkitekter), who designed the care home, says that they had good experience with Troldtekt from a previous care home project. This solution was therefore also chosen for the communal living areas of Fribo Greve.
