Social Housing Oostend
19 social housing apartments for elderly with garage for 15 cars.
‘de Boeg' is a residential building with 19 apartments for the elderly. Situated on the Golvenstraat in Oostende, the building occupies a site within a residential neighborhood adjacent to the coast. The building breathes in the North Sea air, reflected in it's gray-green brickwork and frame of grey-brown washed concrete. The trapezoidal building is independent – maintaining sight lines and ensuring openness around the building from it's context. Meanwhile, the building integrates into the urban fabric and becomes a characteristic presence within the area: firm and clear to Elizabeth Avenue; refined and modest to the Golvenstraat. The unique situation of the building affords the compact trapezoidal shape and the combination of sturdy materials and the use of relatively few sustainable building techniques. On the south side of the trapezoidal building, large and light living areas with large balconies punctuate the facade. On the corners of the building, bedrooms are positioned.To the north, circulation zones facilitate efficient access to the apartments with the residents benefiting from agenerous communal entrancespace greeting the street. This entrance spaceplaces an emphasis onsocialising and communal interaction, supplemented with anoutside arrival spaceaccentuatedby seating and waiting areas. By placing balconies on the south side, and articulating the other facades with floor-to-ceiling windows andFrench balconies, the building has a conversation with it's environment; ensuring an architecture that is simultaneously firm, intimate and finessed.
