De Bolder – Care Accessible Apartements and Care Service Center, Rijssen

Location: Rijssen
Year: 2009 -2015
Area: 4.650 m2
Status: built
Client: Twinta, de Goede Woning
Team: Remko Remijnse, Rocco Reukema, Jille Koop, Marco Olgiati, Fernando Herrera, Georgios Siokas, Christine Vriesema, Magdalena Orzel, Edyta Wisniewska, Nicolae Petrencu, Jessica Branchesi, Adela Lorenzo, Isabel Rivas, Julien Bezault, Amaia Lezaun, Michael Labory, Leonor Coutinho, Laura Maasry, Bart Machielsen, Tieme Zwartbol

The central building of the residential area in Rijssen, ‘De Bolder’, consists of 2 programs: a ground floor plinth with care functions and care-related rental houses on the four floors above. The center of care has become a central place in urban planning and is visible from the surrounding area and is accessible from several directions by foot, bicycle and car. In the transparent plinth, there are also neighborhood functions such as ‘a la carte’ restaurant, shops, hairdressing salon, reflection room and day care. The transparent plinth has a strong inner/outer relationship with the surrounding public squares. As a result, it is a low-threshold extravagant facility with a public character aimed at the district. The care-intake point has been deliberately detached from small-scale housing and care-related homes; this promotes the independence of residents and experiences a visit to the healthcare center as an outing. The care entry point is freely divisible because the upper floors are carried by a column structure. This promotes the flexibility of use, which allows spaces to be adapted as desired. The head, middle, and back is kept transparent so as to strengthen the relationship between the two squares. Between the open spaces, there are two wooden organic shapes that reinforce the curves of the building both inside and outside; the wooden elements are sometimes placed outside the glass facade so as to also embrace a warm appearance on the skirting board.

The care homes are located on the four floors above. The houses are accessed here by an internal corridor that naturally receives light from above by the existing light streets. The light streets continue to the ground floor, giving atmosphere to the deep restaurant and the silence room. Due to the specific shape of the Bolder, the houses are bordered by all the surrounding spaces, which ensures a strong relationship with the surroundings and unique and varied views. The houses lie with their living room in the outer spaces, which creates an equivalent residential neighborhood that enhances the courtyards’ feelings of the squares. The outer spaces lie as loggia sits in the facade. The walls of the loggias are lined with wooden parts and provide warm accents in the tight white pattern of the stucco wall. The flat pattern in the foyer of the Bolder continues with the loggias. To maintain visibility and daylight retention, the faces are made of vertical white slats. Furthermore, both the loggia and the open windows have white fences that have the same direction as the slats. The result is a seemingly random but unambiguous facade.