Regis at Lutwyche is home to 135 residents, with 15 rooms dedicated to residents with dementia. Our client, Regis Aged Care, needed the building to be an intimate home for each of its residents, to provide welcoming spaces for these residents to form community, and to feel inviting for families to visit. In addition, to support Regis’ operations, the building needed to be efficient, robust, easy to maintain, and meet various technical requirements. With a focus on creating bright, warm and inviting internal and external spaces, the design breaks down the institutional feel and appearance of the facility. The overall bulk of the building is reduced through an ‘F’-shaped plan form, with narrow residential wings arranged around generous external courtyards and decks. The shallow floor-plate afforded by this form maximises natural light ingress deep into the building. Almost two thirds of the building is dedicated to communal and public areas, promoting resident interaction and family visitation. The ground and roof top levels are fully communal with facilities including a library, café, e-zone, day spa, wellness centre, private dining room, resident lounge and dining rooms. Public and family areas adjoin outdoor spaces so all feel open, light and welcoming, encouraging increased length of visits. A welcoming sense of arrival is created by a pedestrian walkway from the street and a sheltering porte-cochere reaching out towards the street. The reception lobby is flooded with northern light and overlooks lush landscaping, creating a welcoming entry. Spotted gum timber screens guide residents and families towards the café which has its own garden courtyard. The residential levels above are conceived as more private, with higher levels of care. Lounge and sitting areas are warm and inviting, and a range of outdoor sitting areas offer residents places to observe the activity of daily life in the surrounds. Bedrooms are calm and peaceful, with each having a distinct entry threshold. Both private and communal areas are positioned to take advantage of the distant views across Kedron Brook and the north-eastern suburbs. To create a sense of intimacy and domesticity, the palette of colours, materials and finishes across the scheme is bright and warm, with layered texture and pattern, and extensive use of natural hardwood timbers. High-quality, durable elements and finishes were made possible by thorough cost planning throughout the design process, focussed on where efficiencies could be made that would not impact on resident comfort, value or operational outcomes. Enclosing the external decks, four large folded metal screens provide articulation to the building at the civic scale, creating a sense of delicacy and craft which reduces the institutional feel of the scheme. The folded screens appear differently in changing light conditions and cast dynamic patterns of shadow across the façade throughout the day.