Valla nursing home - A future-oriented housing with new welfare technology

Vallastaden has built a new nursing home for the elderly with dementia. Here, a future-oriented nursing home has been opened where the focus is on the individual's needs and well-being. With a new welfare technology, people with dementia receive more individualized care. This has helped the care staff to be able to receive more efficient and personal care, however they have also succeeded in raising the integrity of dementia patients. The garden at Valla nursing home has a beautiful and harmonious feeling where there are many places for different activities, including balance training. Through Alab, SAPA has delivered recycled aluminum facades, windows and doors that are made from Hydro CIRCAL recycled aluminum. 

The new nursing home in Vallastaden is built for the elderly with dementia. Here the focus is on the individual's needs and well-being at the same time as the environment should radiate surveillance and coziness. The nursing home includes three floors with 60 apartments that are accessible for people with dementia who are no longer able to live on their own. There are also premises in the building that are dedicated to daily activities, here the target group is instead elderly with dementia who still can live on their own. These daily activities provide stimulation both for the demented but also for their relatives. A section in the nursing home is also designed specifically to younger people with dementia up to the age 70. The purpose of the nursing home is for the elderly to be able to take care of themselves, moreover, be active as far as they can with the help and support from the care staff. There is another premises on the ground floor of the building that is rented by KFUM (an activity association), they have an extracurricular activity for children with special needs and their families. KFUM also interacts with the nursing home where the elderly could ride a dua bike twice a week. At the nursing home, there is also a SPA and light therapy room that has a human-centered lighting. This construction shows evidence of how to build and think sustainable for all different stages of life, both on a social level but also on an environmental level. 

The nursing home is built with a well-thought-out interior where art embellish the walls. The exterior of the nursing home is something completely unique where the facade is dressed in a rusty sheet metal that will get a beautiful patina over time. Through Alab, SAPA has delivered recycled aluminum facades, windows, and doors in Hydro CIRCAL to the project. Hydro CIRCAL is 75% recycled aluminum that comes from, for example, previous facades and windows that have been dismantled from buildings. This means that the construction has an optimal sustainability lifecycle where the facade also has a 4 times lower climate footprint compared with the European average for primary aluminum. 

Orangery and balance training that thrives in the garden

Extra investments have been made in the outdoor environment of the building. A beautiful greenery that thrives in the garden. Calming and harmonious feelings arise when you look out at the forest behind the building. Through the greenery you can walk on a wide paved road that stretches around the garden. Here, the elderly has access to a balance gym with various stations that will strengthen their balance ability. In the courtyard there is a nice orangery that the elderly can stay in, the floor is implemented with heating coils which means that it can be used even in the wintertime. These activities encourage the elderly to spend more time outside, which then contributes to a better prosperous in the long run.

Welfare technology that takes healthcare to the future

Vallastaden's nursing home is outed to be a test bed for a new welfare technology. Here, researchers from Linköping University have been involved in the working process to develop various digital solutions. The purpose is to improve, facilitate and streamline care to be more future-oriented. Welfare technology provides the opportunity for safer care for the elderly, where the focus is on the elderly being able to have a great influence on their own everyday lives. In every apartment the elderly has access to a tablet, which can be helpful for both them and the care staff. The tablet provides opportunities for the elderly to take photographs, draw, play games and make video calls to their relatives. While the care staff can easily reach implementation plans and life stories through it. Digital supervision has also been applied at night, which increases the feeling of security for those with dementia. Other digital solutions available at the care home are digital locks, security alarms with GPS positioning and digital medicine signing.

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SAPA-products:

SAPA-producers: Alab

Photographer: Göran Billeson