The NOMADE Architectes agency recently delivered an accommodation facility for the elderly (EHPA) in Concoret in the Morbihan department. The town now has the first BBC Effinergie labelled accommodation facility for the elderly in France. The building provides solutions to a number of complex problems that presented themselves in terms of the programme and the construction itself. The challenge was to welcome and integrate residents into a stimulating social environment while respecting each person’s individuality and privacy and, at the same time, incorporate a high performance energy control approach into the construction process. As a centre intended to allow people to group together and socialise, a setting where space is appropriated while allowing people to retain their individuality, EHPA is open to all. Its interior layout favours an optimised flow management and a functional distribution of spaces.

The building is located on a privileged site in a rural environment formed by cultivated land and forests. The EHPA takes advantage of the site’s slopes and inclines to organise itself around a number of independent levels and to limit the building’s landtake. It is built right up against the hillside to minimise the amount of north-facing façade surfaces. To the south, the building opens generously onto the surroundings on all its levels.

The facility is constructed from a combined concrete and timber structure. The use of wood as a facing material gives the entire constructed envelope a sense of unity. The vertical cladding applied to the façades uses local species (acacia and chestnut) that are provided with two colour tones (grey and natural wood) that will harmonise perfectly over time.

The entrance to the building, located to the north, is signalled by a canopy. The northern façade, interspersed with openings, introduces a soft, homogenous light into the circulation areas. To the south, the façade offers a series of terraces and balconies. Giving onto the landscape, residents are provided with privileged views over the private and collective green spaces. The 44 one- and two-room apartments are all provided with a hall serving a bathroom, an equipped living room, a kitchenette and a bedroom. Each housing unit is provided with an external space accessible from the living room or the bedroom, offering each resident a high level of comfort and independence. A large south-facing and partially covered terrace extends the living spaces by providing an unobstructed view over the forest.

In addition to a planted interior patio, a large green space to the south comprising a rose garden, a vegetable garden and an orchard provides areas for the residents occupy and engage in various activities. The planted roof integrates the building into its environment, increases its inertia and provides a better control over rainwater drainage. It also completes the finish to the fifth façade of this BBC Effinergie energy efficiency labelled building.

The EHPA in Concoret provides several optimised spaces, be they private or collective, interior or exterior, allowing residents to feel completely at home in their own space while also being surrounded and accompanied. The construction of this building, fully adapted to its users and immediate environment, is the fruit of a well thought-out architectural approach promoting the use of innovative, aesthetic and long-lasting materials. The architectural layout is developed over several scales: that of the residents and their day-to-day activities, that of the visitor, as well as that of the personnel.