De Prins care centre and senior citizens’ housing

At the head of the “east-west flank” in Breda, De Prins was designed as an entrance to the centre. The location, bordered on by the Nijverheidssingel, Nieuwe Prinsenkade and Middellaan, is located on one of the main access routes to Breda centre.
The building forms a gateway to the city centre, and comprises a transparent plinth in partly one, and partly two layers, framed by an arcade. Together with the houses on top, the disc shaped columns along this arcade form a masonry volume of four layers, on the corner of the Nijverheidssingel and heading up the Nieuwe Prinsenkade as an urban accent. Besides this raised accent, rooftop houses are set back in two layers on the brick volume. Behind the arcade, the transparent content forms the plinth of the building. It houses the service centre of the family health centre for Breda and surrounding area, along with a health care shop and a dispensing chemist. The green courtyard also has a pavilion with a children’s day care centre for four groups. The access point of the social service centre is aimed at the city, on the corner of the Middellaan and the Nieuwe Prinsenkade; next to the pedestrian access to the underground car park. Apartments for senior citizens have been designed above the plinth, with a robust urban look on the outside and a transparent and open view of the courtyard. The 82 residential units for senior citizens all have their main entrance on the corner of the Nijverheidssingel and the Nieuwe Prinsenkade. There are staircases and lifts in a transparent , diagonal swathe through the volume. The central ascent point on this corner forms an urban accent which marks said access route to the centre. A second access route to the houses is on the Middellaan.
The entrance to the houses is via galleries, which function as streets in the complex for a maximum of eight houses each. Privacy is guaranteed thanks to widened sections and open gallery sections. In the west and south orientation, widened galleries form the exterior space, as front gardens for the adjacent houses. Unlike the more robust nature of the exterior facades, the facades on the courtyard side are indeed open and inviting. The standard types of housing are located on the first, second and third floors, with a loggia, conservatory or widened gallery, depending on their location. The fourth and fifth floors comprise the receded roof terrace houses, which are the crown on the building.
The project was worked out in cooperation with Rienks-DBM + Partners; architecten van Mourik was responsible for the design, Rienks-DBM + Partners for detailing and management.