Areal Architecten

Elderly Care Campus

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

ELDERLY CARE CAMPUS

Areal Architecten

ARCHITECTS
Areal Architecten

CATEGORY
Asylum

LOCATION
Belgium

AREA
15217.0 m²

YEAR
2014

PHOTOGRAPHS
Tim Van de Velde

MANUFACTURES
Vande Moortel, Armstrong Ceilings, Forbo Flooring Systems, Schüco, Fermacell

CONSTRUCTION
MBG (CFE)

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
ABT België nv

TECHNICAL STUDIES
VK Engineering nv

CLIENTS
Sint-Carolus Mayerhof vzw

PRODUCTS USED IN THIS PROJECT
Vande Moortel Facing Brick – sEptEm

COST
18200000 euro

TEXT
Jurgen Vandewalle

Nursing homes and other social services are often interpreted according to the same pattern: countless rooms linked together by long corridors.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

Such a scheme is a victory for the functionality of these buildings , but a defeat for the domesticity of it .

In care area Mayerhof the limits of this rational scheme are questioned, while space is created in which a community can grow.

Various additions of communal and open areas add to the domesticity of the place.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

By positioning the nursing home in a figure of eight on the site an infinite circulation that connects all the rooms on every floor with each other arises.

In this functional diagram however, places where social interaction arises are inserted.

At each corner of the figure open spaces create space for interaction.

The linear corridor folds around two large voids, creating various perspectives and a sense of overview in the building.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

As the program towards the upper floors is diminishing, terraces arise on every floor with an optimal orientation and protected from the wind.

Each room gets either view towards these open spaces in the heart of the nursing home or to the green area around the building. The result is a very light volume that is bathed in natural light and space.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

Besides nursing , three separate volumes provide assisted living , as stately sentinels overlooking the existing nursing home.

Large openings with terraces located in a residential area that acts between the nursing home and the surrounding housing.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

All properties counting two or three facades allowing natural light to invade the living spaces are bundled with a widened corridor that houses the common functions.

The new buildings are implanted into the free space on the site around the existing nursing home , which remained in use during the works.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

After the demolition a green zone is liberated embraced by the new nursing home and assisted living residences. The joint residential area and the underground passage bind the different functions together.

Otherwise they set themselves as autonomous parts , but live as integrated components of a unique residential care setting with a focus on lifelong living and care.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

The choice for three entrances to the site , the construction of streets and indoor spaces and buildings that vary in size and appearance makes this new environment reminiscent of an urban fabric and is way different than the monotonous environments where such programs are mostly housed.

The various functions dress in a different architecture. The nursing home is built in a reflective aluminum cladding used as canvas to the sunlight.

The assisted living residences have a stately finish in masonry with exposed concrete ring beams.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde
Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde

Mayerhof Care Campus acts as a small town where functionality and domesticity merge into a fresh environment where social interaction, security and integration of people with different needs are in the center.

A community bound together by a rational structure , a place to grow old with dignity.

Elderly Care Campus
© Tim Van de Velde


Elderly Care Campus
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Elderly Care Campus
Floor Plan
Elderly Care Campus
Floor Plan
Elderly Care Campus
Floor Plan
Elderly Care Campus
Site Plan


Elderly Care Campus
Diagram
Elderly Care Campus
Diagram
Elderly Care Campus
Diagram
Elderly Care Campus
Diagram
Elderly Care Campus
Diagram

Areal Architecten
T +32 3 4553899
Areal Architecten
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