Brand new care center unites entire neighborhood

In the green surroundings of Sint-Pietersplas in Bruges, a brand new care complex of Mintus, a renowned welfare association in the West Flemish capital, opened in the spring of 2023. Sint-Pietersmolenwijk includes a residential care center with room for 232 residents, a day care center, a child day care center and, in the future, an after-school care center. Although the size of the project required a lot of space and innovation, the complex looks particularly homely and transparent. "We focused on caring construction with a high experiential value between the collective and individual," said architect Gino Debruyne.

In 2011, the Bruges welfare organization Mintus launched a competition for the construction of an original, qualitative and sustainable care complex at Sint-Pietersplas. Gino Debruyne & Architects entered the competition. Thanks to its good references in care projects for various target groups and its extensive experience in the field of legislation, the office won the contract. Together with Ann Vandycke, advisor architect technical services at Mintus, the architects shaped the project year after year. In May 2023, the first residents moved into the brand-new care center, named Sint-Pietersmolenwijk. 

"The key concepts for the concept are security, homeliness and customized care," explains architect Debruyne. "However large this project may seem, we wanted anything but to erect a mastodon in this idyllic setting. That's why we deliberately opted for small-scale departments with well thought-out walking lines within an architectural spaciousness. The directional views and engagement with the surroundings dose the daylight, making the most of the soothing materials and contemporary furnishings."

The Sint-Pietersmolenwijk care center includes a residential care center, day care center, child day care and out-of-school care. The high-quality, inspiring experiential architecture is tailored to this mix of generations and target groups. This creates a mini society tailored to the visitors, residents and caregivers. A thoughtful circulation pattern promotes resident self-reliance and staff service. 

"The individual room is the resting point, the private place. All residential units are located in the outer shell of the building and overlook the green surroundings. From their room, residents flow through to the common areas," adds Vandycke. "Those spaces border glazed interior patios with a spacious terrace. Residents can thus comfortably enjoy the outdoors in the best conditions, with sufficient light and sheltered from wind and weather. This has an activating effect."

A thoughtful layout is the common thread in the overall housing project. "We didn't want to put a long beam down in the landscape," says project architect Bert Masselus. "You don't get much living quality and you lose a lot of space to long corridors. 

Hence our concept with five volumes that develop in a meandering form around large patios. This offers transparency and arouses an adventurous curiosity." 

The building consists of a spacious underground parking lot with a retention roof above. The ground floor forms the artery of the residential care center with a modern cafeteria, accessible entrance hall, rooms for social work and administration and a barber store, among others. The wards are located on the two upper floors. The playful color accents in the exterior cladding flow seamlessly into the entrance area and emphasize the foundation of this concept: an inclusive residential facility with customized care. 

The appearance and strong legibility of the building are expressed thanks to a subtle but deliberate choice of materials. Thanks to the loam-colored parament stone and the bronze-colored aluminum of the exterior facade, the building integrates into its immediate surroundings in terms of color tonality. Soft accents in the pointing, light blue details in the ground floor plinth, refined eaves and subtly rounded façade corners give the façade image depth and nuance. The underground parking prevents a proliferation of parked cars, so the view at ground level is not disturbed.

Inside, various ceramic tiles create differentiation and recognizability in soft, warm colors. Says Debruyne, "We tried to design a timeless building that residents, visitors and caregivers alike will be proud of and that will still be seen as contemporary thirty years from now. We succeeded by translating the large scale and extensive program into sufficient homeliness and inclusion, with an innovative view of care experiences through design and modern technologies."

In addition to its contemporary appearance, the residential care center also features innovative applications. "We are completely moving away - except for one emergency generator - from fossil fuels," says Masselus. "Heating is done using a BEO field and via waste heat from the city heat grid." In addition, the entire building is equipped with Human Centric Lighting. This intelligent lighting enhances people and their activities with qualitative lighting planning. The lighting also automatically adjusts in response to requests for help from rooms, for efficient evacuation or to detect wandering residents. "This care center is truly progressive," concludes Vandycke. "The functional layout, the innovative technologies and the inclusive mix of target groups promote residents' independence and provide optimal support for the valuable care staff."