This project comes under the Canton of Vaud’s social-healthcare plan and forms part of the SILO Foundation’s institutional project. The new services offered to the local community are in line with the canton’s "aging and health" policy, whose particular aim is to strengthen support and post-discharge care for the elderly.

The SILO Foundation thus organized a competition for the construction of a medical and social support structure (SAMS) able to accommodate 30 short-stay residents and provide 10 day care places. A medical practice with a number of general practitioners, a hairdresser and a tea room were also to be included in the new structure.

The proposed architectural project seeks to integrate itself into the site and respond to the built environment, with its two main hubs: the village of Echichens and the SILO Foundation. The building aims to acts as a pivot between these two geometries and to connect the existing constructions.

The proposed structure is divided into two buildings, each organized around a patio. The project’s scale is thereby more adapted to the rural context. The facades are composed of prefabricated reinforced concrete elements.

This building aims to be timeless. It is a welcome structure in the literal sense of the term, going well beyond the programme itself. While the proposed architecture might appear somewhat archaic, it is in fact a contemporary reinterpretation of structural themes drawn from the vernacular heritage. The approach is not at all nostalgic, but rather a desire to anchor the project firmly in a wider temporality than the cultural context in which it is built. This desire to echo the project’s immediate environment stems from constructive analysis and reflection on the structure’s durability.