Japara Robina Rise

This thoughtfully designed 106-bedroom 6-storey aged care facility is efficiently designed within an awkwardly shaped and prominent curved corner site. Utilising the building’s verticality, we were able to deliver a building that considers the needs of both staff and residents.

Branching out from a centralised lift lobby, the vertical integration of the design means reduced travel distances for staff and discrete access to back of house facilities. By keeping these back of house elements out of sight, the institutional nature of aged care is obscured. This allows residents and visitors to relax in a home-like environment, and enjoy the extensive communal facilities, such as the rooftop function room and terrace, theatre, multipurpose spaces, bar, library, salon, and café.

The design houses a dementia unit and courtyard, which is discreetly located at the rear of the site on the ground level. It was recognised that designing for those with behaviours of concern can often lead to institutional results, so compassion and care was applied to ensure environments were suitable for the resident’s cognitive needs and staff’s clinical requirements, but most importantly, providing a place that felt like home.

Expansive external balconies and an internal landscaped courtyard, framed in glass, enhances light and ventilation on all levels of the building. The corridors adjacent to the courtyard provide a clear line of sight to outside, as well as the dining and lounge areas, to assist residents with site orientation and passive staff surveillance. The servery is open to dining spaces, reinforcing the domestic-nature of the design, although elevated with hotel-like quality finishes. Spaces are welcoming, calming, and familiar whilst also supporting a high provision of care.