Xinning Huang

The project is located in Vlissingen of Netherlands, on a vacant parking lot north of an existing high-rise elderly care district. It proposes a 2–4 storey, garden-centred mixed-use housing to establish a low-rise, walkable, and landscape-led model for elderly living. With a multi-layered co-living system, the housing is welcoming dementia patients, bedridden residents, and general elderly users.
Drawing on textile terminology as a spatial logic, the site is understood as a surface, and the building as a seam. A linear building subdivides the site into four courtyard conditions. The building operates as both a separator and a connector, forming a patchwork spatial system with the courtyards, allowing residents to access different gardens and engage in diverse daily activities. Together, the building and courtyards create a network of everyday spaces, aiming to establish a 15-minute elderly-friendly living system. 
Together with the three existing courtyards of the original elderly care district, the project forms a system of seven gardens. These gardens function not only as activity spaces, but also as an ecological network that balances activity and rest, openness and shelter through differentiated spatial conditions.