Garden village Westhovenplein

Escamp, Den Haag, Netherlands

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Garden village Westhovenplein

Escamp, Den Haag, Netherlands

Firm

architecten van Mourik NL

Type

Residential › Apartment Multi Unit Housing
Government + Health › Community Center Medical Facility Aging Facility

STATUS

Under Construction

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

Living together, caring together

At the Westhoven Plein in The Hague are 64 life phases rental housing, 78 care apartments and 1,000 m2 care facilities are going to be built, designed by Architecten van Mourik. The design emphasizes the collective space within the plan that is both a reaction to and a continuation of the urban layout of the surrounding urban tissue.

Like everybody, elderly people need a place to feel at home: a place to be themselves with their memories, to withdraw, but also a place to share their lives with others. For the elderly this is not evident. Setting off to meet others is difficult. In the private sphere dependence on anonymous health authorities grows.
In the Netherlands, the amount of elderly people sharply increases. In addition the responsibility for the provision of care is shifted from the government to the citizens themselves. That causes a great need for home environments suited to grow older within, and where adequate care can be provided. Also, it is important that people living in them can remain part of a community.

Directly along the green zone within the urban quarter The Hague Moerwijk South (designed by the Dutch urbanist Willem Marinus Dudok around 1950) lies the location for Woonzorgcomplex Westhovenplein. Impressive weeping willows and expansive lawns determine its views. But also, the district has an open structure which feels impersonal and anonymous sometimes. In this district with little confined space it is difficult to support a collective community. However, the green structure is spatial, ecological and as outdoor space for urbanites important.

Woonzorgcomplex Westhovenplein is located in this green urban tissue as an ensemble of autonomous buildings in a collective garden with a private character, where residents can meet, can withdraw or where care can be provided to them with a view of the trees and the water from Moerwijk South.
To achieve this, merging of the current plots to one continuous garden is proposed by removal of the road that separates them. The parking lots are placed around it. By lifting the ground surface the garden is subtly separated from the public space. Valuable trees are preserved as much as possible. By rounding the corners of the buildings the transparency of the plan is increased, and the surrounding green urban tissue continued.

By raising the edges of the garden and lowering its central part, the intimate nature of the central outdoor space is enhanced. The buildings are connected to the courtyard by collective rooms on the ground floor, by which the garden can be accessed. In this way an ensemble is created of which the garden is the collective center: private by nature, but not enclosed.
Within the volumes small ridges separate the individual floors, between which the windows are placed. The scale of individual apartments can therefore be read from the facades of the buildings.
Three of the five buildings contain apartments for people with a relatively high need of care. These buildings have specifically designed community rooms on each floor where residents can meet. The position of these areas varies per building, and are partly related to the collective garden, and partly to the public space. In the other two buildings are contain independent apartments. The loggias of these houses are oriented to different sides, and are located mostly on the corners of the buildings enabling panoramic views. The windows offer excellent view of the garden and the ground level of the district, as a result of their low position near the floor.

In contrast to the transparent green urban context, the facades of the buildings are constructed of hand-shaped, earthy bricks, as is the wall that separates the garden from the public space. From its surroundings, the complex looks a secluded, protected entirety. Its interior court is an enclosed green space with vistas to the surrounding neighborhood.
This creates an enclosed environment for the residents: a place to be themselves with their memories, a place to withdraw, but also a place to share their lives with others.

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Garden village Westhovenplein

Escamp, Den Haag, Netherlands

Garden village Westhovenplein

Escamp, Den Haag, Netherlands

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team