Living and growing old in a modern monastery

The non-profit organisation Caritasverein Illertissen “illerSENIO” has implemented a pioneering project for care and living in cooperation with the Order of the Steyler Mission Sisters on the extensive site of the Trinity Abbey in Laupheim, Baden-Württemberg (Germany), in the Biberach district.

The idea behind this was to make the convent, which was founded in 1966 and in which around 50 of the world’s 2,900 sisters live together, even more open to people outside the community and thus also guarantee the survival of the convent as a whole.

Holistic concept for multiple generations

The innovative, holistic concept, which Baltring-based construction company Matthäus Schmid also worked on and which was implemented by donhauser postweiler architecten, uniquely combines care and living, secular and spiritual aspects as well as several generations.

In a total of three construction phases, the convent has been transformed into a modern complex with a nursing home with 90 beds, 32 apartments for assisted living and day care, a social centre and a multi-generational residential park.

Chapel as the heart and cloister wall with openings

The chapel was integrated into the new building as the heart of the new convent, the crosswalk and the atrium. The existing park has also been largely preserved and offers many retreat options as well as plenty of space for recreation in the green.

Large, floor-to-ceiling windows characterise the façade of the four-storey flat-roof buildings, which are grouped around the reception area created as an interface between the existing convent chapel and the new nursing home. There is a cafe with a roof terrace, a shared courtyard, apartments with upstream loggias and small terraces, an underground garage and a new “cloister wall”. It has several openings that provide views of the facility and connects the nursing home, convent chapel and assisted living.

Feel-good atmosphere in the light-flooded new build

In the wide corridors of the spacious and open-plan, light-flooded new building, light wood floors and window frames combined with light walls create a natural feel-good atmosphere. There are also small seating corners with coloured upholstery, individual stylish patterned wallpapers and round lights integrated into the ceiling.

Wood wool ceiling panels from the design solution V-Line 1way in the colour Natural Wood ensure good acoustics. The linear pattern matches the direction of installation of the wooden planks and rounds off the overall design concept.