
MAXIMALdesign won the pitch for the care centre project in Turnhout. The goals were develop a full interior concept with comfort, a home feeling and wayfinding as key words. The final concept was written into a design guide for the execution to be ready for the grand opening on May 25th.
This service design oriented project was the final layer in a total facility project for the OCMW in Turnhout (Openbaar Centrum voor Maatschappelijk Welzijn / the public institution for social welfare) with a new care center for the elderly in which 144 new guests can stay. The new building had to become a home for them but in different levels. Some elderly come here while still quite active. Other need a lot of care and are bound to their bed. The care center gives room for all these different levels of care...
The challenge for the project had different levels
1. Come with a unified concept for all ‘first contact’ touchpoints
2. Translate the concept on the different functional fields of the building: public ground floor, semi public corridors and group spaces and the private space of the guests: their room which becomes their home.
3. Organize the solutions in a building guide for all elements. Because of the stricht and short schedule these will be split in ‘make’ elements and ‘buy’ elements. With this guide the project manager should be able to streamline all the decisions within the creative guideline of the interior concept...
In the first analytical phase we started with observation, insight provided by the architects and a workshop with most of the stakeholders. Two goals were set as the outcome of the workshop:
- decipher the ‘brand strategy’ and the emotional values and mission of the care center.
- understand the process, the wishes and needs and the requirements for the execution of the interior concept and wayfinding layer.
Second step was to propose the management team with three interior concept proposals. From these concepts (concerning atmosphere, furniture, style, graphics and organisation) one direction was chosen, refined and detailed into a all encompassing building guide... The biggest challenge was the wayfinding concept which had to work persons with eyesight, mobility and orientation problems. Every corridor became a street of the village with several orientation levels: colour, symbols, names and numbers.
The opening ceremony was on friday may 25th and we wish the organisation and the guests a great experience in their new building!






