Residential Care project De Zon in Bellegem

A sloping derelict site close to Bellegem village centre has been granted classification for the construction of a new residential care centre offering 96 housing units, 24 social flats and a community centre. The urban planning design strives for the project’s maximum integration in the neighborhood. It provides direct interaction with the nearby school, a new access path for pedestrians and cyclists and incorporates a new community centre.

The urban plan will be constructed around a central square that will act as the driving force and the hub of the residential care site. The square has been afforded a public character, offering space for activities that support and promote village life. Not only does it offer major added value for the residents, visitors and staff, but also for people that live in the vicinity. It can serve as a venue for social contacts, where all sections of the local community can meet. The residential care centre‘s community centre and cafeteria will both occupy a visible location and will thus reinforce the centre’s public character.

The project will do its utmost to address local issues. With this in mind, fifty public parking spaces will be constructed that will help reduce parking pressure in the area and that can also be used by local residents. Special attention is devoted to road safety and several technical road traffic aspects as a result of the new improved access.

“Sustainable embedding”

A sustainable and energy efficient project begins with appropriate and logical embedding. Taking into account the steeply sloping terrain and the potential solar heat gains, the buildings will be oriented north-south, parallel to the slope. This ensures that the building’s comfort level can be achieved and managed in an optimal manner. The residential care centre with its three floors represents the largest part of the project and will occupy the greatest surface area. It will be built into the highest flank of the site, in line with the rear of the buildings on the main street.

The totally car-free green central square forms a natural and accessible route through the site. It follows the contours and provides a functional connection between the different zones and buildings via a continuous underground construction level. This basement level offers fifty parking places for staff and residents. The car park can be accessed via the two extremities of the site. Delivery vans and ambulances will also use this logistical level so that the infrastructural impact on the environment is kept to a minimum.

“Architecture on a human scale”

The architecture does its utmost to prevent the care centre from appearing as a dominating building complex in a village with a relatively small-scale residential core. The design achieves this in several ways. Yet the fact remains that a care centre of a certain size (determined by economic, social and administrative factors) cannot be compared for example, to the scale of private homes. The architectural design features elements that guarantee its ‘human scale’, without being restricted to the purely measurable (number of floors, construction depth and occupied ground level etc.) The residential care centre and the social flats aim for integration in their immediate environment and especially not to come across as a single large structure. To this end, several recognisable concepts are used.
For example, the residential care centre’s architecture is based on a typical village street. The whole project can be divided into volumes consisting of eight rooms, which is larger than a typical village house but also ensures recognisability and possibilities for underlining its own identity. The typology of the ‘residential
homes’ is literally visible in the plan and the façades. Here people will adopt the care principle of ‘small-scale normalised living’: in small groups of residents, in clusters or a sort of ‘household’, each with its own cooking and living area.

The social flats on the southern side of the site will be developed in two smaller structures, similar to the typical housing in the area. The two buildings have three floors (and a limited fourth floor). All the flats are equipped for people with a disability and designed according to the principle of ‘lifelong living’.

“Great ambition in terms of sustainability”

The project harbours considerable ambition in terms of sustainable and energy efficient building. The general E standard (which refers to energy consumption depending on the building design) will be below E-40. The buildings are ideally positioned, are very compact and have an exemplary insulated shell. Sustainable energy techniques will be used depending on their technical and financial feasibility.
Watch the project movie here