On the 24th of June, students and employees of Veldacademie visited the recently completed building Terras aan de Maas in Spijkenisse, near the city of Rotterdam. The visit, which was guided by Humanitas, gave interesting insights into the changing relationship between housing and healthcare.
Living unassisted as long as possible
The new building Terras aan de Maas is located next to the Old Meuse and is part of a new district in Spijkenisse, which is still under construction. The ground floor of the Terras aan de Maas tower houses several healthcare facilities in order to enable the residents to live unassisted as long as possible, which is increasingly relevant because of the current developments in the sector of health. An indispensable part of the facilities is a health centre, including a general practitioner, a physiotherapist, a dermatologist and a dietician. Furthermore, it is possible to visit the hairdresser, to do some grocery shopping or to drink a cup of coffee in the restaurant on the ground floor.
Adaptable housing
On the four floors above the plinth, fifty adaptable dwellings are constructed for people who need nursing and medical supplies. Humanitas offers its care facilities to the residents of these dwellings. In a communcal living room with a kitchen, residents can meet each other, watch television or eat a meal, cooked on the spot by a hostess.
All apartments are designed with a terrace, which offers a wide view on the Old Meuse. However, the older residents of the adaptable dwellings -who often suffer from dementia- are not allowed to enter this terrace without accompaniment. The parapets are too low for these elderly, so all sliding doors are currently stored with locks and the commodious terraces remain unused.
All the dwellings of Humanitas are adaptable. If it is needed in the future, it is possible to add a kitchen per dwelling and to convert them into individual appartments.
Terras aan de Maas
With its adaptable dwellings and health facilities close to home, the Terras aan de Maas project is an exemplifying illustration of the attempts to create a new relationship between housing and healthcare. It is interesting to follow this project the coming years, in combination with the (political) developments in the sector of health.