Project Description
Hof Kromwege, Vlissingen
Location: Vlissingen
Year: 2016-2022
Area: 2.775 m2
Status: built
Client: Zeeuwland & Stichting Philadelphia Zorg
Team: Remko Remijnse, Agnese Argenti, Manuel Lentini, Federica Giannone, Emanuele Saracino
Building management: Marsaki
Contractor: Bouwbedrijf Rijk
Landscape: Bosch Slabbers
Interior: Berith Keiser Ontwerpen
Constructor: Cerfix Constructies
Installations: T-AdCo
The project is located on the Kromwege Singel in the city of Vlissingen. The site of approximatly 4000 m2 included a pre-existing monumental building from 1664.
Around 1926, this building was part of a yard arrangement consisting of a characteristic long barn with thatched roof and several smaller volumes. During World War II the barn was destroyed by a plane crash.
In the historical arrangement, there was a clear relationship between the two buildings that were connected by a yard. With the new development, we want to refer to this arrangement as well as to history.
The lost barn has been reintroduced through a contemporary volume that houses a new nursing home for the Stichting Philadelphia Zorg, an organisation that cares for people affected by mental and phisical disabilities.
The monument hosts a daycare center for the residents of the nursing home and has been expanded through the addition of a minimal and very distinguishable extention.
These three elements, together with a fourth shed building, enclose the inner courtyard, a secluded and calm area where residents can move freely and independently while remaining in a protected space, under the silent presence of an old elm tree.
The Nursing Home
This elongated building with its angled shape embraces the courtyard and creates an inviting entrance point in its center. The two wings host 4 residential groups, each equipped with 9 units of approximately 25m2, a large common living space with dining room and kitchen, and rooms for treatments and care.
The floorplan is based on the principle of the free roaming of the users, creating loops all over the building in order to avoid the feeling of a strict boundary. The corridors are designed as social spaces, not just a passage, with open views of the surroundings and skylights. The common livingrooms are located towards the courtyard and the entrance on the ground floor, facing the north side, while on the first floor they are connected to a central terrace, which gives a privileged view of the fields on the south side. This variation provides the user with a diversity of experiences even within the same building.
Daycare monument and addition
The monumental house is a beautiful brick building from the 1664, considered a landmark of the area and so, protected as historically and culturally valuable monument. For this reason the intervention was very respectful of the building, restoring the damaged parts and, of course, upgrading the energy efficiency of the building in order to host the kitchen for the daycare at the ground floor and the administration of the nursing home at the first floor.
The daycare functions are developed in the new addition that was designed as a very minimal, one floor volume characterized by glass and anthracite metal panels in facade. The glass facade faces mostly the courtyard to create more visual contact with that outdoor space, in opposition with the few openings towards the street, to give more privacy to the users and caretakers. The extension never touches the monument, so they are distinguished not just by the visual appearance, but also by the volumetric point of view. Indeed to passage between the addition and the monument, who need to be internally connected for functional reasons, is a buffer space designed completely in glass on all sides, in order to make it less visible as possible, so the two buildings look separated.