Housing and care yard
Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
‘Zuidbroek’ is the name of one of the most recent development areas of the municipality of Apeldoorn (the Netherlands). The north side of Zuidbroek has already been developed, for the south side the ‘Wellen’ project has been planned. In this area 600 rural style, private sector houses are to be realised. The municipality of Apeldoorn strives to achieve an exclusive image for the Wellen. Due to this approach it considers small scale private care enterprising – situated right in the middle of a residential area – equally appropriate usage of land. Local government (projectgroep Zuidbroek) has therefore zoned a land lot of approximately 14.000 m2 of the Zuidbroek area for the development of a small scale exclusive Sheltered Housing and Care Facility: the so called ‘Boerenerf’ (Dutch for farmyard) project.
The ‘Boerenerf’ project harbours care homes for a variety of people – such as psychogeriatric elderly, seniors and residents with a minor handicap – as well as possibly a child day care center. It also combines this practical land use with the intended exclusive and ‘green’ image of the area. Furthermore, in the spirit of the urban planning program for the ‘Wellen’, a rural housing style is envisaged for this residential area, creating a kind of country estate, with a ‘Herenboerderij’ (Dutch for main farm) as its centre and supporting ‘additional farm buildings’. The facility’s image shall be one of a genuine ‘farmyard’: the perfect portal for the exclusive ‘Wellen’ area.
The architecture doesn’t literally relate to Dutch farmhouses with their additional sheds, but more to Japanese or Norwegian barns. The wide variety of the rooftops as well as the façades gives each building its own unique identity within this housing and care ensemble. In this way the recognisable structure of a farm yard is created featuring a variety of modern housing forms. At the same time though, the area appears distinctly different / alienating due to its defiant use of the farmyard as a residential building block.