Maine Veterans’ Homes ‘Small House’ Project
The design process for the Maine Veterans’ Homes ‘Small House’ Project began in January 2016, through a national collaboration between Maine Veteran’s Homes and Gawron Turgeon Architects, P.C., Plunkett Raysich Architects, TJM Consulting, IMEG Corp, Stantec, and Pierce Engineers. After three years of intense design, planning, bidding and negotiations, we’re excited that construction can now begin.
This 138-bed, 179,000 SF nursing home adopts a new concept—The Small House—as a more innovative and caring way to provide long-term transition care and memory care for Veterans in a more intimate and residential setting. A ‘sense of place’ is created with the Community Center in the center of the site, while a loop road connects homes and provides organization, ease of access and security.
A key objective was to maximize wellness opportunities outdoors, through a strong connectivity between the nursing home and its exterior spaces. Both physical and visual connections to the outdoors and nature provide for a sense of well-being or healing experience, and the landscape has been designed to provide meaningful spaces for everyday living, with spaces for walking, relaxing, visiting with friends and family, and engaging in purposeful work like growing vegetables. Plant material was carefully selected for fragrance, color, texture and seasonal interest to invite residents to interact with their outdoor environment.
For more information about this project, please read this great MaineBiz article “Maine Veterans’ Homes $90 million Augusta development to begin“.
