ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
The theme of playfulness is reflected through the design of the new mental healthcare facility.
can receive treatment at De Korbeel. The Patio, meanwhile, treats children aged between 12 and 18 with a mental healthcare condition under the supervision of the juvenile court. The new mental health hospital for
children and young adults in Kortrijk is located on a historically significant site where the Battle of the Golden Spurs between Flanders and France took place in 1302. The site is connected to the urban centre of Kortrijk and the historic Groeningepark. While in the past psychiatric facilities for children and young people have tended to be tucked away from sight, the new building is fully integrated into the city.
Positive contribution to the local community To ensure optimal integration of the facility within the local environment and urban life, the new building’s location was established in close consultation with the city of Kortrijk. Wout Maddens, the city’s Alderman for Building, Housing, and Urban Renewal Projects, said: “The incorporation onto the site of the new Korbeel and Patio buildings created a lot of new green space compared with the former Sint-Jozef school buildings there. The Groeningepark is larger, and there is now a public thoroughfare for cyclists and pedestrians along Langemeersstraat. The high-quality architecture ensures that the mental health hospital is nicely integrated into the streetscape and park area.” In contrast with the institutional
architecture of the past, the hospital was designed as ‘a large-scale infrastructure project for small-scale healthcare’. VK’s design team developed a concept of linked patio houses consisting of three attached houses along Langemeersstraat, with intervening gardens and a city wall, and two recessed houses in the park, with their own enclosed garden. A central street connects the five patio houses, creating a care street for the care provider, and a play street for the young. The intention was to provide small-scale care for vulnerable young people in a larger context of care, embedded in an even larger urban context.
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The play street physically connects all functions, allowing a rapid response in the event of a crisis situation. Ward accommodation is provided for three service-user groups – children aged up to six years’ old, those aged 6-12, and those aged 12 years and above and adolescents. There also five ‘crisis rooms’ to house young people admitted in a ‘crisis scenario’ who can be assessed there and then, and – if felt necessary – admitted to one of the other wards.
A ’lively whole’ created Bert Scheirlynck, senior architect at VK architects+engineers, said: “The varying heights of the buildings, and the walls of the patio gardens, create a lively whole. The gardens and their relation to the passageway reinforce the green character of the project within the city. The building is obviously designed first and foremost for the benefit of the users, but equally for the benefit of the surroundings.”
Homely living and technological innovation To ensure supervision, safety, and functionality, all the bedrooms are located at the same level as the daily living group facilities, resulting in small-scale and homely individual living units. Each living group is equipped with its own living space, bedrooms, bathroom, and support functions, and also has its own patio garden, specifically designed to suit the age group. For example, younger children have a sandpit, hopscotch game, and swing, while older children have outdoor fitness equipment and a basketball ring. Comfort rooms and small individual seating areas form accents for each living group. The different living groups are linked by a common ‘play street’, with shared functions. Mieke Demeestere, director of
Patient Care, says: “With such features incorporated, our aim is to maximise the positive effects of nature on both the physical and mental health of our service- users, within a truly a healing environment. Moreover, the patio garden that each living group has affords the children and
young people there the opportunity to calm down and ‘de-compress’ in instances of increasing tension, or in the case of imminent escalation.”
The ‘play street’ as a central connecting space The design places significant importance on the play street as a central connecting space. It is wide, with a void that introduces a lot of natural light on the ground floor, while an open staircase features handrails for different ages, and is finished to a high standard in warm shades and materials. The walls are placed at an angle to create views from every living space to the life and activity in the play street. On the first floor, the same play street and an open staircase in the void connect therapy rooms. Classrooms, creative spaces, and a sports hall, are present as large spaces on the first floor. The architecture team at VK
architects+engineers also paid considerable attention to the safety of staff and service-users, with features such as a staff attack alert system from Ascom which uses Bluetooth via DECT devices and a series of ‘beacons’ throughout the building, which are in constant communication. An alarm button on the devices can be used to immediately notify other care staff about incidents or escalations where intervention is required. In addition, the new facility is equipped with an access control system combining technology from Salto, Assa Abloy, and KNX that, for example, automatically closes doors as soon as one is opened, especially in the seclusion spaces unit and the forensic unit.
Designed for healing and recovery The theme of playfulness is reflected throughout the new mental healthcare facility. The white nuanced brick references – in a contemporary way – the original white townhouses in the street and the city. The use of materials is sober, yet expressive and child-friendly, with green glazed bricks as accents in the white facades, red clinker bricks for the whimsical footpaths, and square paving
AUGUST 2023 | THE NETWORK
All photos used courtesy of Klaas Verdru
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