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De Korenbloem

I. SUMMARY INFORMATION
Project
304346
Status
Submitted
Award category
Prioritising the places and people that need it the most
You want to submit
NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS: existing completed examples
Project title
De Korenbloem
Full project title
Pilot project Invisible Care – De Korenbloem, Kortrijk (Belgium)
Description

De Korenbloem on uuenduslik haavatavatest rühmadest elanikele suunatud elamuprojekt Belgias Kortrijkis. „Hooldelinnak” on loodud varajase algusega dementsusega, insuldiga seotud puuetega ja somaatiliste sümptomite häirega inimestele. Projekt ühendab eluhooned – kaks projekti jaoks rajatud hoonet ja kaks ümber kujundatud pargialadel asuvat villat – teenuste võrgustikuga; näiteks on linnakus päevakeskus ja kogukondlik teenuskeskus. Projekti eesmärk on välja arendada elanike vajadustele kohandatud, multifunktsionaalne ning sotsiaalsesse keskkonda lõimitud hoolekandesüsteem, mis vähendab eraldatust.

What was the geographical scope of your project?
Regional
Flemish Region
Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban
Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations?
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment ('hard investment')
Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?
No
Has your project won an EU prize?
No
Your project is fully completed?
Yes
When was your project implemented?
How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes ?
Press
On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation, in partnership with other organisations
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Please provide a summary of your project

The project is one of five ‘pilot projects for Invisible Care’ promoted by the Vlaams Bouwmeester and the Ministry of Welfare, Public Health and Family to explore new models of collective living for those who need care, specifically people with early-onset dementia, stroke-related disabilities and somatic symptom disorder. The project promotes the integration of these new collectives within existing neighbourhoods, exploring strategies for supporting them so they can live in the community for as long as possible.

A masterplan was developed collaboratively by Sergison Bates architects and Studio Jan Vermeulen icw Tom Thys architecten, to organize an open care campus within a building block set in a park site in Kortrijk's Sint-Janswijk, just east of the city centre. The two studios then developed projects for two new residential buildings providing different types of residential care, each connected with the two existing historical buildings, an art-deco villa (Project A, Sergison Bates architects) and a neo-classic country house set within the park (Project B,) which were renovated and integrated into the campus to accommodate a day-care centre and neighbourhood services for local residents.

The campus care model adopted in the project uses space in a creative and flexible manner to provide an effective model of residential care. The ambition is to promote the transition from the currently fragmented care provision to a multifunctional, socially integrated care system that can be rolled out at national level.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words
Care campus: a network model that breaks down barriers between vulnerable residents and the local neighbourhood both spatially and in terms of the services on offer to improve provisions for all
Invisible care: an adaptable, integrated model for collective living for those who need care and their families
Small worlds: a small-scale residential model based on the specific needs of residents living with the effects of early-onset dementia, stroke related disabilities and somatic symptom disorder
Re-using existing buildings: adopting the spatial ideas and qualities of existing buildings to provide care in familiar settings, creating a feeling of home and a sense of place
Green spaces as a focus of urban integration: mediating between care setting and the wider urban community
Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability (including circularity) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

In testing innovative concepts for care, housing and public spaces the project’s approach to sustainability considers not only ecological and economic factors, but also criteria that relate to the comfort of residents: accessibility, thermal and acoustic comfort, natural ventilation and visual contact with the outside world. A range of sustainable technologies, including air-source heat pump, PV cells, underfloor heating and rainwater harvesting in the existing park’s pond to stimulate bio-diversity.

Equally significant was the incorporation of the existing villas in the care campus as community buildings: prioritising their re-purposing and retrofitting buildings resulted in substantial embodied energy savings compared with the environmental impact of demolition and rebuild. Beyond the valuable energetic synergies created by connections with the new buildings where all service installations are housed, the historic villas have a central role in the masterplan and the new project. Retaining these heritage landmarks gives the care campus a strong familiar identity and the internal organisation of spaces was inspired by the buildings’ spatial qualities. The interiors were designed to create a feeling of home – a safe, familiar space in what can feel like a confusing and sometimes frightening world to vulnerable people. This is an important factor in supporting people with early-onset dementia and their families to live in the community for as long as possible.   

The relationship of the buildings with the surrounding landscape and gardens is another crucial element. Protecting the existing trees was an important consideration in determining the distribution and footprint of new buildings, as the park plays an essential role within the masterplan, offering a protected outdoor environment for vulnerable residents that is visually open to the street and to users of the community facilities.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The two projects use similar architectural strategies though with a distinctive aesthetic outcome.

Project A: As a creative response to current research on early-onset dementia, the project focused on creating a feeling of home by adopting some of the spatial ideas and qualities of the existing Art Deco villa in the new building, where room flow into one another rather than being accessed through corridors, with circulation taking place via a succession of rooms – a sequence of ‘small worlds’.
We attempted to create an environment that feels more domestic than institutional: rooms are laid out so that only a few doors are visible from any one perspective and privacy is emphasized by providing recessed entrances and niches. The choice of materials and finishes also plays a crucial role, as a careful balance must be struck between practical considerations such as maintenance and management on the one hand, and the residents’ need for comfort and security. The new buildings’ ceramic façade found its inspiration in the details of the art-deco villa it extends.

Project B: The historical villa, which contains a day-care center and community rooms, served as a reference for the design of the new building, combining elements from classical ‘garden structures’ such as balconies, pergolas, canopies and garden rooms to create a mediating scale between the privacy of the residential building and the urban context. Creating a ‘diptych’ with the villa, the new buildings stepped volume opens a direct link from the street to the heart of the block. This new link is further emphasized by its rhythmic facade of columns and balconies that will overgrow with plants over time, creating a green frame that brings nature close to the residents and to the edge of the block. Inspired by historical follies, a new two-storey garden house creates a connection between the new building and the villa, allowing less mobile residents to enjoy the garden from the safe environment of the house.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

De Korenbloem’s mission is to care for people with early-onset dementia, stroke-related disabilities and somatic symptom disorder with respect for their own personality and capabilities and for the needs of their families.


Current care models are based on protecting residents by excluding them from society to provide a safe environment. This approach, however, is detrimental as it exacerbates isolation and compounds symptoms. A crucial strategy for mitigating the progress of dementia is to reinforce the relationship with objects, routines and a person’s surroundings, a process that can be achieved by transforming the resident’s environment into a series of ‘small worlds’, combining the intimacy of co-living with the proximity of communal care and neighbourhood facilities. The concept of ‘home’ was questioned and redefined as an experiential model based on the identity of a place, objects, activities and people: the personal experience of ‘home’ consists of a network of small worlds rather than the need to isolate oneself in a separate house.


The main challenge was to develop spatial ideas and typologies that would generate a more integrated relation between vulnerable residents, the local neighbourhood, and the wider society. The project adopts a neighbourhood-oriented approach that reinforces the relationship with the local community through shared facilities and volunteering. The masterplan integrates the existing historical villas and mature parkland into an extensive care campus embedded in the local urban fabric creating a network of spaces of varying size, atmosphere and character, a complex world within the protective boundaries of the care home and the neighbourhood – a personal world supported by ‘invisible care’.
Putting the needs of the individual and their families at the centre is a radical departure from a care model which tends to subordinate them to a care machine that strives for efficiency and optimisation through large-scale operations.


 

Please explain how these three dimensions have been combined in your project.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

The project provides shelter for vulnerable residents and the organisation that facilitates their care and wellbeing. It does so by integrating two historic villas that house facilities for both the residents and wider community. The care we have given to the restoration of these villas and the way we have used them as an inspiration for new spatial residential models and their architectures is emblematic for the respect we have for the residents of this project. The project provides a home for those who need it most, uses architectural solutions inspired by its heritage to generate spaces that ‘invisibly’ support the lives of the people who inhabit them. It not only creates a sustainable environment from an energetic and spatial point of view, most of all it creates a more social environment where people in need find a home that matches their needs. Bridging communities and ages, the applied strategies of small-scale living supported by care, in combination with community facilities, supported by volunteers and spin-off care services proofs to be exemplary on many levels.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

Empathy for the reduced spatial awareness of the residents has resulted in specific design solutions for the layout of the apartments in which residents’ needs take precedence, combined with a balanced approach to privacy within a co-living model.
The proximity to the day-care centre and the community rooms has proved essential in retaining connections with the community. This allowed for a more complex understanding of ‘home’, expanding the living environment of the residents into a constellation of ‘favourite places’ or ‘small worlds’. The project successfully balances between the conventional emphasis on ease of maintenance and management, while also meeting with the unique needs of the residents in terms of individuality, comfort, and protection.

At the same time, it has revitalised a city block that sits between two residential areas with different social and ethnic mixes. By providing shared facilities for the neighbourhood and the residents of the care campus, the project facilities a link between the two areas and promotes interchange and social integration.

Both projects with their distinctive architecture contribute to the diversity of the build environment. They break down the scale of classic old-peoples home into a quarter with a diverse outlook and a more human scale.  By prioritizing people, the project creates a new place with a new identity that mediates on many levels.

Please explain how citizens and civil society were involved in the in the design and/or implementation of the project.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.

The initial schedule of requirements and the proposed residential care model were discussed extensively with the residents’ family members and informal carers. The feedback from these discussions led to adjustments to the initial project proposal.
The Flemish funding agency, VIPA, was closely involved in reviewing innovative measures and delivery modes for the intended target groups throughout the design process, in order to ensure that the innovative character of the design was retained when the initial budged was sharply reduced due to changes in the project financing.
The quality of the project was monitored by Wivina Demeester, a highly respected expert in health care and former Minister of Welfare, Public Health and Family, who continued to support the project’s ambitions with their spatial and organisational expertise in the care sector.

Two events were organised to present the project to local residents and to the residents of the care centre: the first when the environmental permit was submitted, the second prior to the start of work on site.

Extensive conversations were held with the Planning department and Heritage on the relation of the new buildings with the two existing villas that were part of protected city views. Similar conversations were held with the city’s park department resulting in a new maintenance plan for the central park, a new garden and the planting of 30 new trees to compensate the footprint of the new buildings.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addressed by providing local solutions

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 challenge is both quantitative and qualitative. In one of the most urbanised and densely populated regions in the world, it is imperative to embed care in the social fabric by supporting people at home for as long as possible, focusing on their active participation in society and strengthening social networks, so that different generations and different social groups – people with and without care needs – can support each other.

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’, organized in a personal way makes it easier to negotiate space and establishing a recognizable 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.

The care campus model adopted at De Korenbloem uses space in a creative and flexible manner to provide an effective model of residential care. The ambition is to promote the transition from a large un-adaptive care system to a smaller, multifunctional, socially integrated care system that targets the needs of the individual and the local community. The intention of this project is to be an example that can be rolled out at national level and beyond.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the project.

The ‘care campus’ model adopted in the project integrates existing buildings, new buildings and green spaces to provide an effective and compassionate model of residential care. A variety of residential typologies and services are designed to meet residents’ care needs as they develop, gradually and less traumatically, and give them and their families the support they need to retain a degree of independence for as long as possible.

In response to current research, the project creates a feeling of home in what residents perceive as a confusing, sometimes frightening world by evoking the comfort of familiar places. Adding community and welfare functions to its care provision, it strengthens connections with the local community, improves facilities for local residents and forms a buffer against social isolation.

As a pilot project, it promotes the transition from a fragmented to an integrated lifelong care model to be rolled out at national level.

Please explain to the potential of transferring the projects’ results or learnings to other interested parties and contexts.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.

De Korenbloem is one of five pilot projects selected by the Vlaams Bouwmeester and Minister for Welfare, Public Health and Family to explore innovative care models to be tested, evaluated and rolled out at national level.
The initiative involves a broad communication plan about the learning process through symposiums and publications coordinated by the Office of the Vlaams Bouwmeester, as well as follow-up to harmonize regulations and tools and optimise findings at all levels of government.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant documentation available?
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload it or write it below

The project was shortlisted for the Wivina Demeester Award, promoted by the Flemish Community and Flemish Bouwmeester to recognize inspiring urban development projects commissioned by local government bodies, and focuses both on the overall design quality and the exemplary commissioning process developed by the client.

https://vlaamsbouwmeester.be/nl/instrumenten/pwdm21-architectuur-genomineerd-de-woon-zorg-buurt-kortrijk

III. UPLOAD PICTURES
IV. VALIDATION
By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes
By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2022 in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes
By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the project, concept, idea, and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes
By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform https://prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu/ and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their ideas, concepts, projects, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted idea, project, concept is found to infringe third parties rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

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