The Psychiatric Hospital in Goes is formed of two entities: the Long-Term Residential Care centre and the Centre for Geriatric Psychiatry. Both buildings are located within the spacious grounds of mental health institution Emergis, bordering on the Zeeland countryside, surrounded by farms, orchards and windbreaks. The design of both buildings is inspired by the landscape of Zeeland and the traditional monastic typology.
For the exterior, materials and detailing are austere and robust; for the interior, material choices reflect warmth and intimacy. The facade is clad with weathered rough pine boarding coated in black linseed oil paint. White painted frames are added to the openings in the facade, just as in traditional Zeeland farms.
Each building features an enclosed patio forming an oasis of tranquillity. An oak gallery surrounds this space and the warm, intimate effect of the garden is emphasised by painted wood cladding. The closed character of the building is broken by a large opening facing an old orchard.
The Geriatric Psychiatry building’s patio has a quieter atmosphere and is furnished like a Zeeland Zen garden. Both buildings have an aluminium roof with folded seams which slope down in a flowing line. A colourful, cubistic stair tower announces itself through the sloping plane of the roof.