Modern housing for Huntington's disease expertise center

In the Katwijk dunes, the new Topaz Overduin building was officially inaugurated at the end of May. This H-shaped extension houses eighty studios for residents with Huntington's disease. A transparent new restaurant with main entrance connects old and new. Full use is made of the surrounding dune landscape: on all sides, residents have contact with the outdoors from their bright, spacious studios and living rooms.

"Topaz provides specialized care at nine locations. Topaz Overduin in Katwijk is also an expertise center for people with Huntington's disease, which is consulted worldwide," says Marco de Kievit, real estate program manager at Topaz. "Huntington's disease is a hereditary, incurable brain disorder that over time causes increasing physical and also mental symptoms. Admission is unavoidable at some point and for that we have 80 spacious, modern places here. In addition, Topaz Overduin has 120 nursing places for people with dementia and Korsakov syndrome." 

Before new construction was undertaken, part of the existing building, which dates from 1960, was demolished and part was renovated. De Kievit: "There were first plans for more new construction, but due to huge increases in construction costs, they were modified. It was important to do something about the hidden main entrance, the restaurant, hidden like a bunker in the dunes, and the chapel, which was structurally at its end. The middle section that you used to drive onto first from Nachtegaallaan has been demolished, as has the chapel that was in the middle back. In the new layout, you now first enter the open forecourt where you almost automatically arrive at the transparently designed main entrance. This light steel structure serves as a reception area and restaurant and connects the existing buildings with the new Huntington's wards. The new chapel is cleverly incorporated into the existing building."

To save costs, the construction process was cleverly intertwined with relocation movements, which had to remain as minimal as possible. De Kievit explains: "We first refurbished old rooms in the upper levels of the existing main wing into temporary studios for 20 residents. Two old pavilions, which we are still going to demolish, still temporarily remained the accommodation for forty residents, and the last twenty stayed at our facility in Leiden. That saved a lot of money on rent and temporary units. Fellow organizations do not have space due to the long waiting lists."   

The temporary housing was put into use as early as 2022. "Then it was the turn of the demolition of the existing wing on the north side," says Willem van der Plas, director of KBM Group, which is well versed in building for healthcare institutions. "In November of that year, we started the new construction, which was completed in March of this year. The nice thing about this dune landscape is that after some groundwork and careful insulation, you can quickly start on the steel-founded concrete floors. The new building is traditionally designed with sand-lime brick walls and wide slab floors with compression layer. Architect Dick van der Merwe of Van den Berg Architects designed the facades with bronze-colored aluminum facades and light wood paneling in white aluminum frames." The wings are slightly raised off the ground. "We didn't think it would be nice if the white frames were directly in the sand," explains De Kievit. "It's much nicer if the buildings seem to float slightly above it. That was worth a small plus to us on the budget."

The new chapel was given a place in the existing main wing. "On the spot where the demolished part stood against it," says Van der Plas. "In fact, based on the old building plans and in consultation with the structural engineer, we were able to remove a section of the storey floor without the need for additional structural interventions. This created the height a chapel needs. Insulated stained glass windows were installed in the facade. The chapel has its own entrance and is multifunctional."

The eighty care spaces are divided into eight residential groups, each with 10 single rooms and a common living room with kitchen. De Kievit: "The H-shaped building really slid into the dune, giving the wings a basement towards the south. There are four living groups on the first floor, the second floor has shorter wings containing two units, and the basement also has two. Space and light play an important role in the building. Thus, residents have a view of the outside on all sides and plenty of daylight comes in. Each housing group has a large terrace. Everything else is wide so that easy transport on the bed is possible. Throughout the building, the doors are 1.10 meters wide, the studios are 37 m2 in size and include a 7 m2 private bathroom. This accommodates a shower stretcher where the resident can be approached from two sides. In the central axis of the H are office spaces and general functions. That axis has a separate facility corridor on the other side, separate from resident traffic. Here, for example, you will find the po storage, a checkroom and the medicine room."

The new building has a new nurse call system with sensors. Signaling, communication, answering and handling of care alarms is done via smartphones and an app for monitoring. This home automation is deployed depending on the needs of the residents. There is no central monitoring center. The care worker, ward or night shift receives the notifications. Access technology is implemented with door locks, tags and a central key cabinet. 

The entire complex is preserved with large air/water heat pumps and thermally insulated facades, along with 288 solar panels and sedum with water retention on the new roofs. The central functions in the new building are centrally ventilated with an air handling unit; the 80 residential units have decentralized heat recovery units (ClimaRad) for cooling and heating, eliminating the need for ducts under the ceilings. All in all, the gas consumption of the entire site has been reduced by more than two-thirds. "A great achievement by the entire construction team and a wonderful new home for the residents," Van der Plas concludes. "Cooperation and communication were excellent, which is probably what you get when you work together more often."   

Careline was chosen for the loose furniture for Topaz Overduin. Among other things, it supplied closets, tables, armchairs and accessories for the new care building in Katwijk. Chairs and armchairs were given extra thick padding so that residents with Huntington's disease could not hurt themselves. 

Careline is a furniture manufacturer specializing in healthcare. "Our factory is in Schonbach, Germany, and in the Netherlands the office with showroom is in De Lier," says Jakob Besley, Sales Manager Netherlands for Careline. "Because we produce the furniture ourselves, we are very flexible. High-quality furniture comes out of the workshop as standard, but should customization be required, such as a different type of foam or different stitching, that's no problem at all. Possibly that played a part in our selection from multiple vendors over several rounds. In any case, the feeling was mutually beneficial."

Customization for Topaz Overduin in particular consisted of extra-thick handrails and chair covers. "Huntington's disease is a brain disease that leads to, among other things, making uncontrolled movements. That's why in living rooms and studios you don't want hard and sharp edges on the seating. To that end, we have fitted armchairs and chairs from our own furniture line with extra-thick padding. Everything is upholstered with extra sturdy artificial leather with an extra high Martindale value. The chairs are made extra robust with thicker legs and exude stability and homeliness. In addition to these chairs, 160 closets with extra hinges, about forty living room tables, side tables, TV cabinets and other Careline accessories were also supplied. The dining room chairs are existing and Topaz had them reupholstered themselves. An excellent choice in the context of circular thinking."