[ad_1]
Elzenhof Veenoord Elderly Courtyard / Specht Architects and Planners
Text description provided by the architect. In the village of Veenoord, social housing association Woonservice wants to build housing for older people. The city already has a standard allocation plan, but Woonservice wants to create a more collective form of housing. By encouraging encounters between residents, they hope to reduce loneliness among older adults. To this end, Specht designed a courtyard consisting of 21 senior housing, a collective bicycle storage and a collective living space.
The houses are built on the site of a primary school and are nestled in the landscape among trees. The location therefore gave rise to the development of a different type of architecture and a different lifestyle than the village’s usual detached and townhouses. The courtyard is designed as an independent volume within the green landscape and consists of two building volumes folded around a central courtyard.
The volumes are shaped to retain existing trees. Residents have the opportunity to meet easily in the courtyard and organize events together in the common living room in the corner, which is also used by the neighbours. The courtyard was specially designed for the place thereby adding value to the place.
The building has a pitched roof. The wooden façade in the courtyard is lower and therefore more private. The exterior masonry facade is durable and fits perfectly into the surrounding green surroundings. The facade is made of sand-colored bricks and has 12 different reliefs. The depth and position of the wooden window frames are staggered to create a varied and lively façade and provide varying incidences of light in the upper-level living spaces. Residents have a choice of two private outdoor spaces: one located outside the commons and one connected to a collective courtyard. This allows them to choose sun or shade, as well as privacy or contact with neighbors.
Outdoor spaces in and around the courtyard were developed by Laos Landscape Architecture. Drenthe has two typical landscapes: heathland and stream valleys, separated by a border of chestnut columns. Valleys function as water channels that trap rainwater. Seating elements and the shelter of large trees invite encounters. The transition between collective and private outdoor spaces has been carefully designed to ensure adequate privacy. Diverse landscaping, native plants and a mix of grasses and bees enhance biodiversity.
This form of collective housing is new in Vinod. By building this new type of housing, older people are encouraged to move from large family homes to smaller single-storey seniors’ homes, thereby making room for younger people looking for family homes in the villages.
[ad_2]
Source link