Tess and I won an Honourable Mention for the Carefully Designed Competition to completely renovate an existing long-term care facility in the village of Horst in The Netherlands.

People were the starting point for our proposal. We aimed to understand needs of the individual, the household, the neighbourhood and the village, and how each of these overlapped in order to be beneficial to all. Our proposal is a layered, inclusive and supportive place that facilitates wellness and connects community.Three main strategies were adopted:

All existing buildings are retained and repurposed
The garden is the connector
Injected program invites and celebrates community

The Mikado main building is retained to promote existing community function but is extended to include an information tower to carve a new entry into the facility. The information tower acts as a beacon and meeting point for the community, organises circulation and promotes new technologies.

The forecourt is transformed into a public transport node and a community green and square extend the public functions of the site to engage the street with activity and host many events.

A community garden activates the site by renting garden plots to the village, running a nursery, shop and multipurpose community space for regular cultural food days.

Existing buildings are reinvented to form housing "groves" in which five person households have private bathing, sitting and sleeping areas with shared kitchen and living greenhouses. Each grove has its own car parking, bike storage, covered entry and garden. It is linked to the main building by a garden path.