When designing living spaces, KunstRaum Goethestrasse xtd bases its ideas on the wishes and needs of the residents and aims for a successful collaboration with them. This is encouraged by envisioning the process on a long-term scale. When a new fully-assisted living residence was built in Linz, a new home was made available for 20 people, who were on average around 57 years old. KunstRaum Goethestrasse xtd was involved in the construction phase from early on in the process. Once the future residents had been determined, the collective work on their new home began. It focused on three main goals: designing the new living space together, offering support for the transition phase into a shared apartment and encouraging the formation of a community in the residence. The multi-stage, two-year process helped the residents reposition themselves in the space and in the group and also aimed at supporting them in expressing themselves. The aesthetics of the design create a pleasant atmosphere and are an elementary component of the residential building. The long-term time frame of the collaboration process made it possible to introduce living spaces that had been
overlooked in the planning phase: areas to relax in the common areas and places to interact comfortably.
The idea of world on a large and small scale and a correlation between the outside and the inside world set the direction for the design of the entire house. Fauna and flora are displayed in relation to the world of the human residents. Their stories, embedded in the universe, are visible on all three floors with plaster reliefs of photographs, a mobile, patterned tiled walls, painted and printed elements, porcelain birds, and a path out into nature crossing the terrace. Together, these elements create a work of art, in whose process and production
the residents were involved. Both residents and visitors alike enjoy the impressive result, while give-aways which were produced for the opening of the house were very well received.
The people constituted the focus of this project. Lyrics of certain children’s songs which were well received in the workshops were included in the design. One living room wall became a „family album“ with drawn portraits of all the residents. Similar to a family photo album, this is a place of remembrance in which former
residents who have passed away are commemorated and new ones can be added. In doing so, everyone becomes and remains part of the community and new residents are visibly included.