On Thursday, March 21st, the first stone laying ceremony for the Orange Nassau’s Oord psychiatric care centre in Wageningen will take place. The event will be attended by Francine Houben and other Mecanoos, as well as a delegation of the centre’s residents, employees and volunteers. Orange Nassau’s Oord provides independent and shared living spaces for elderly residents with dementia. Mecanoo was selected by Zinzia Zorggroep in 2014 to upgrade the existing care centre. The new design offers personal, flexible and specialised care while maintaining the independence and different lifestyles of the residents.
The care centre’s psychogeriatric nursing home section, dating from the nineties, no longer meets current functionality standards and is being replaced. The new addition is semi-circular in shape, mirroring the existing facilities building. Where the two half circles meet, there will be a new ‘heart’ with a communal entrance, restaurant, library, group room and activity centre. The 7,800 m2 addition provides smaller living groups and an individual room with its own front door for each resident. Contrasts in colour, sound, light and smell are combined with a clear layout to provide comfort and clear orientation.
Construction preparations are already underway, and completion is expected by the end of 2019. During construction, residents can continue to live in the current building of Oranje Nassau's Oord until the new nursing home is completed. Once built, the new building will have translated Mecanoo and Zinzia’s shared people-oriented vision into practice.