Studio Jan Vermeulen i.c.w. Tom Thys Architecten has created an innovative care building for VZW De Korenbloem in Kortrijk. The building provides new living models for young people with early-onset dementia and elderly people with stroke-related disabilities and somatic sympton disorder. The project is part of ‘Pilootproject Zorg’, an initiative of the Vlaams Bouwmeester and the Flemish Ministry of Welfare to create invisible care. The project repurposes a historic villa and extends it with a new building that creates a link between the neighbourhood and a beautiful landscaped park in the middle of a city block on the outskirts of Kortrijk.
Designing for dementia
As dementia affects an increasing proportion of the global population, it is necessary for architecture and spatial design to address the issues it raises in order to provide a comfortable environment for those living with it. The single most significant challenge facing people living with dementia is the disorientation in time, space and identity caused by memory loss. One way to counter or mitigate this loss of connection is to reinforce existing relationships with objects, routines, and spaces. Creating ‘small worlds’, organised in a personal way makes it easier to negotiate space and establishing a recognisable personal setting is fundamental in helping people cope: these small worlds are ‘narrow’ enough to provide a safe, calming space which is personally meaningful and reflects individual identity. In this respect, the notion of ‘home’ becomes a point of reference and offers a protected place from which to venture out into the outside world.
“Within the the concept of ‘home’ as a single place has been
challenged and translated into a concept where ‘home’ is a
constellation of places, a constellation of ‘small worlds’.”
Pilootproject Zorg (Pilot Projects for Invisible Care)
The Flemish Government Architect (Vlaams Bouwmeester) and the Flemish Minister for Welfare launched a call to care providers in 2012 for the construction of innovative healthcare infrastructure. Five interdisciplinary design teams were selected through competition to design the care models of the future, which started being implemented in 2014. The team of Studio Jan Vermeulen, Tom Thys Architecten en Sergison Bates Architects was appointed to the project for Vzw De Korenbloem in Kortrijk. Demographic forecasts show that the population of Flanders will grow by 1.2 million by 2050, and that 800,000 of these additional citizens will be aged 65 and over. This means that the proportion of over 65s in the overall population will be 28%, compared to 18% today. The task is therefore to build 300,000 extra dwellings focussing specifically on the needs of older people. De Korenbloem care campus is one of these pilot projects that explore new models of collective living for those who need care, strategies for supporting them so they can live independently for as long as possible and ways of integrating these new collectives within existing neighbourhoods.
The masterplan, developed together with the team, organised ninety new residential units and additional welfare and neighbourhood services within two ensembles of new and existing buildings set in the beautiful park-like landscape. The facilities address the specific needs of young people with early-onset dementia, people with stroke-related disabilities and somatic symptom disorder. Day-care facilities are provided in the two existing historic villas on the site and linked with new residential buildings addressing both the street and the park. Studio Jan Vermeulen, in collaboration with Tom Thys Architecten, developed the ensemble around the Villa Landhuis in the park, while Sergison Bates Architects designed the project around Villa Portiek near the church.
Small-scaled living
Based on the ambition of De Korenbloem to create a care network that enforces the relationship with the local neighbourhood, a masterplan was developed to transform the existing disintegrated buildings into clusters with their own identity. A vital method to ease the progress of dementia is to reinforce their relationship with objects, routines and their surroundings, a process that can be achieved
by reducing their former environment into ‘smaller worlds’. Therefore, the project combines the smaller scale and intimacy of living with the efficiency that is vital within the daily operation of care infrastructure. Altogether, the ensemble of buildings creates a network of small-scaled living areas, allowing its residents to move freely within a controlled and protective environment.
Villa Landhuis
Standing on a slightly elevated position in the middle of the park, Villa Landhuis, designed by Bruneel de Montpelier in 1860 in neo-classical empire style, takes a central role in the masterplan and the new project. Throughout its life the villa has been topped up, extended, adapted, and stripped numerous times. Within the scarred villa the team rediscovered generous rooms that were once the background of aristocratic family life. In line with Palladian thinking, relations between rooms were reinforced along the two main axis of the villa and opened towards the surrounding landscape and gardens. The main circulation was reorganised, and small infrastructural elements were added to adapt the villa to the needs of a day care centre. The organisation of interconnected rooms of various sizes and atmosphere, like a constellation of ‘small worlds’, now provides a compact but generous domestic setting for its vulnerable residents.
New building
The new three-storey building consists of four stepped volumes, similar in scale to the villa, that mediate between the street, the villa and the park. The project frames a new route between the street and the park and in doing so opens the heart of the care campus to the neighbourhood. Its stepped configuration creates smaller social spaces of different character around the perimeter of the building. The buildings’ proximity to the existing villa with its classical vertical order inspired the design of the façade, which borrows elements from classical ‘garden structures’ such as balconies, pergola’s, canopies and garden rooms to create a new intermediate scale between the privacy of the residence and the urban landscape. Concrete horizontal stringcourses vary in depth around the perimeter of the building to create canopies above entrances and terraces for the residents. Slender concrete columns, acid edged to reveal the white aggregate and black sand in a terrazzo like effect, create a rhythmic façade along the new route to the park. Over time specifically chosen plants will find their way up the structure to create a luscious green frame. Echoing the crafted and articulated plaster details of the villa, windows in the new building are framed and walls are finished in stucco with a fine vertical motive to give it depth.
Folly
Architectural continuity between the historic villa and new building is most apparent towards the park where, as in a diptych, new and old stand comfortably together. A new two-storey garden house creates a direct spatial link between the residence and the collective spaces in the villa. Based on the concept of the historical folly, it stands as a kaleidoscopic structure that allows even its lesser-mobile residents to connect directly with the garden from the comfortable and safe environment of the house.
“The historical villa inspired the design of the façade, which borrows elements from classical ‘garden structures’ such as balconies, pergola’s, canopies and garden rooms to create a new intermediate scale between the privacy of the residence and the urban landscape.”
Organisation
The project houses a variety of housing types and care facilities: two day-care centres tailored to the needs of different pathologies, four serviced flats for the more independent residents, four larger assisted-living apartments for eight residents each, and a short stay recovery house for six residents. Each apartment explores spatial configurations that allow residents to co-live according to their own needs and wishes, providing a variety of spaces of different atmosphere and intimacy along a central passageway that residents can occupy as their own ‘small world’. Communal living areas on each floor are located along the west façade of the building as a sequence of interconnected spaces with access to large west-facing balconies. Individual rooms are separated from the communal areas by lower in-between space to provide privacy for residents within the larger apartment. Sliding panelled doors define the relationship between the bedroom and the bathroom so that access can be adjusted to the level of care needed. The material pallet of the interiors is purposely neutral to allow for each household to explore their own domestic style over time. Adding to the neutral lightness of the interior, the few fixed furniture elements that were provided, such as kitchens, storage cupboards and wardrobes borrow their colours from the subtle play of light and shadow found in the paintings of domestic interiors of Villhelm Hammershoi.
Home environment
Our design approach was based on the transfer of some of the spatial ideas found in the existing villa, such as the variety of interconnected rooms, and a creative response to current research on early-onset dementia, based on studies and case work by Dr. Iris Van Steenwinkel, Prof. Ann Heylighen and Prof. Chantal Van Audenhove at KU Leuven. As far as possible, we attempted to create a home environment where residents can participate in the household according to their personal needs and capabilities. The concept of "home" as a single place has been challenged and translated into a concept where "home" is a constellation of places, a constellation of "small worlds". A careful balance must be struck between the conventional emphasis on ease of maintenance and management and the unique needs of the residents in terms of individuality, comfort and protection. Our approach recognises the importance of person-centred care and emphasises the creation of "small worlds" within an overarching whole.
Text by Jan Vermeulen & Stephen Bates
