The retirement home on Nopova street was based on a design by Zdeněk Tihelka and František Kopřivík. It is located in a quiet part of Židenice, between the park Tyršuv sad and the Church of St. Cyril and Methodius. The complex of buildings, which was completed in 1978, is situated on the edge of a garden intended for relaxation and communal activities. The whole site is naturally screened off from the surroundings on its north-eastern side by gently sloping terrain, at the top of which lies Viniční Street. Nopova Retirement Home was built on the initiative of the South Moravia Region National Committee in Brno using a prefabricated reinforced concrete construction (MSOB construction system). On the eastern side of the main building, there are two small ground-floor technical buildings. The complex layout of the retirement home, which is also reflected in its exterior, is based on the connection of two buildings by means of a spacious corridor with staircases and lifts.
Building A has five floors and a large bed capacity. Part of main façade is formed by a monolithic protruding corner with roof terrace and covered porch on steel pillars. There are French windows on the floors above the main entrance and horizontal strips of windows that end in loggias. The window frames are green and the ground floor entrance to the building has a light beige roughcast plaster façade and ceramic brick-effect cladding. The halls provide access to quadruple rooms on each floor, encircling a rectangular shaft with staircases and lifts that connect the communal areas and dining room. On the top floor, the hall opens up into an uncovered roof terrace above the front corner entrance. |Building B has three floors and a simple longitudinal configuration oriented towards the garden. In terms of its internal structure, it has a lower bed capacity and is much less complex when compared to building A. Two-room cells with en-suite bathrooms are situated along straight corridors leading communal and connecting spaces.
In the interior, which has largely been preserved in its original state from the late 1970s, there is extensive use of ceramic brick-effect cladding and wood panelling, with sliding doors fitted in the dormitory part. However, this interior of the retirement home has been designated for reconstruction in the near future, arising from the needs of its current clientele who cannot be properly catered for with the original design. The wood panelling of some areas seems particularly problematical from the perspective of contemporary fire prevention. In addition, the corridors are not wide enough for manoeuvring immobile residents, and both the layout of rooms and poorly illuminated communal and connecting areas are unsuitable for the care of seniors with Alzheimer’s disease.
ŠB