Insight
Designing for vulnerable people
Gilles Alonso
Case study - BORGERWIJK
How to give meaning to “living together” while meeting the specific needs of each resident?
The new care campus “Borgerwijk” brings to life the Borgerstein association’s strategic vision, dedicated to care of the elderly and support for people with disabilities. Set around a former seminary currently housing the association’s health centre, this ambitious project aims to create new housing adapted to the specific needs of different residents. Designed to accommodate 70 people with disabilities, 120 residents in nursing homes and 50 serviced housing units for the elderly, the new multifunctional structures will also house a nursery and a set of logistics buildings, in the spirit of an urban neighbourhood.
Borgerwijk
Description
Creation of a new multifunctional care campus
Responsible
Bert Dendooven
Partners
Stéphane Beel Architects
-Boydens
-Mouton
-Ontwerpbureau Pauwels
-Daidalos
Location
Sint-Katelijne-Waver
Client
THV Bergesteyn (Cores Development – Vanhout Projects – Vanhout – Hooyberghs – J.Delens)
Area
80.000 m²
A new urban neighbourhood
The buildings comprising the new “Borgerwijk” care campus vary in size and appearance depending on their function, creating a very human diversity that contrasts with the scale of the 80.000 m² project. Distinct structures (senior home, serviced housing units for the elderly, and housing for people with disabilities) are arranged around large shared open spaces, like a new urban neighbourhood. The inclusion of external functions such as a nursery and a day centre further strengthens the link between the campus and its surroundings.
Customised care
We have proposed spaces perfectly adapted to individual users and their needs, informed by our urban planning experience. The development ensures accessibility for people with reduced mobility, low-stimuli environments for people with sensory differences, and an abundance of natural light and views of the remarkable landscape.
Based on our urban planning and informed by people’s individual needs, the project proposes spaces perfectly adapted to the users.
A functional campus
We worked closely with our partner Stéphane Beel Architects on the campus master plan. We thought carefully about how to integrate administrative and logistical support. As a result, we have provided the campus with a main feeder road, a backbone that structures the new buildings along the park and streamlines logistics processes.
The project was the winner of an ambitious and long-term competition, aimed at associating architects and entrepreneurs from the very start of the project, according to the “design & build” (or “bouwteam”) formula. This collaboration allowed us to successfully combine our architects’ vision of contemporary and human living/care spaces with the pragmatism and solid experience of contractors.
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