The project of expansion of a senior home has as its primary objective to offer spaces of great quality  devoted to the guests of the Rivabella Residence, in order to enhance the exceptional natural and scenic set of the lake shore. We thought of a place where the relationship between man, nature and the built volumes could give life to a harmonious whole: an environment where the human being is the main actor, with the buildings protecting and assisting him, allowing a total integration with the elements of nature. Paths, terraces, porticoes, courtyards, places of transition between internal and external spaces, moments of rest, calm, reflection or activity.

Extension of the existing building
The new volume for 14 two-rooms apartments and therapy activities (swimming pool, wellness, gymnastics room, etc.) is located at the east end of the site: this choice allows to set a constructed limit to the space of the park, enhancing its morphology and specifying the relationship with the lake shore; at the same time, by placing the building on the side of the existing volume, we succeeded to keep the quality of the existing rooms, allowing the open view towards the lake and a favorable exposition also for the   block placed in the back.

The transition between the two volumes is resolved in the new entrance atrium, on the ground floor, which becomes the central hub of distribution; repositioning  the entrance, currently on the first floor along the back towards via Ressiga, allows for a more rational organization of the paths, both external and internal, and defines a clear hierarchy between connections to "common" spaces (such as restaurant, multi-purpose room, therapy room) and "private" ones (rooms and apartments). The entry element also assumes an important symbolic function, as a bright and welcoming hall that introduces to a sequence of spaces going from the covered hall of the reception  to the entrance atrium, to the porch, to the park, to the shore of the lake;  this hall is the catalyst, the main reference space for all the activities of the Rivabella Residence. Very important, also in consideration of the needs of the old guests of the Residence, the choice to locate the entrance at ground level, eliminating the uncomfortable height difference currently existing between the entrance,  the common-use spaces of the hall and of the restaurant facing the park.