National MS Center Melsbroek
The task of this competition is to draw up a masterplan for a 'health campus' on the site of the MS clinic in Melsbroek. The new program includes a new state-of-the-art building for the National MS clinic, including parking, a psychiatric home and studios for people with acquired brain injury. The entire landscaping of the campus is also part of the architectural brief.
Besides these architectural tasks, the masterplan is also a vision regarding the other entities classified to be on campus: a day center, relocation of an Ursuline convent, a nursery school and an open program.
In the current situation, the site radiates the friendliness of a "forbidden city". The site is almost completely enclosed by the buildings and walls of the historic convent and is hardly accessible from the village. A connection from west to east is blocked by the existing hospital and a physical, or even a visual connection to the adjacent nature reserve is missing.
Our masterplan uses a central green axis (north-south) as a backbone and structuring element for the site. This green shaft is the new heart of the campus where all entities are grafted. By providing a new opening in the convent wall, close to the current school, the axis connects the campus with the ‘Floordambos’ located on the north side of the site. In the future, the green axis can be extended further south towards the village center.
By the demolition of part of the monastery, the wall on the west side of the site will be interrupted for the entrance of the campus, which is perpendicular to the green axis. The entrance and exit of the underground car park are also situated here. So most of the car traffic immediately disappears underground.
Near the main entrance of the campus, the green axis feels like a central square. The clinic is a front to this square.
The program is quite extensive for the size of the terrain and very large for the surrounding buildings. Careful fitting is a balancing act, where hard confrontations with the surrounding buildings have to be reduced to a minimum.
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