Bachelor thesis
De plantaan,
The homeless center for men from the age of 18 is located in the Plantaan in Antwerp.
Well known as the CAW center for general welfare work. This project taught me a lot about Architecture with social awareness as a designer. The center offers tailor-made shelter and guidance, helping homeless people to return to work independently in society and our society. To make ‘the plantaan’ more visible in the street scene, a black and white contrast was used. This reflects the reality of our society, poverty is everywhere but people prefer not to see or hear it. That is why the concept is “the unboxed reality”,
resulting in reality being unboxed to the outside world.
The interior uses box volumes, which can be found throughout the building, both in the private rooms and in the public spaces. The boxes are each designed in one material or color, with a link to nature. This stimulates the homeless and the workers in their daily life. The boxes provide a kind of safe home for the homeless.It is important that workers and the homeless can better communicate and interact with each other in the center. That is why there are communal areas on each floor, including the cafeteria, these are places that bring the employees and the homeless together. The plantaan offers a more positive view of reality and can offer a realistic future to the homeless, but most importantly, it offers a real home for everyone.
Image's from Esmée Meyer
