Wommelgem is an emphatically rural village in the Schijnbekken area in the Province of Anwterp. The district has 12,785 inhabitants. There are no other village centres within the boundaries of the district. The Emmaus npo wants to upgrade the present site of the Sint-Jozef residential care home, at the centre of the district, by building a new local service centre and by renovating 40 housing units. This is to be done on the existing site of the present residential care home, by means of new buildings, demolition and possibly a minor conversion.

In the first place, Emmaus npo wants to develop its community work from a base at the local service centre, De Wimilingen. The service centre is intended to act as a magnet in the neighbourhood by means of numerous activities. It has to be as accessible as possible and equipped with a multifunctional hall, a cafeteria and restaurant with finishing kitchen, meeting rooms and a separate entrance.

The 40 residential housing units must be as flexible as possible, with a particular focus on privacy and community activities. Just as at the residential care homes Ten Kerselare, Hof van Arenberg, Ambroos and De Buurt, Emmaus here wants to apply the principle of small-scale normalised residence. It is thinking of several small entities, each for about ten residents, as part of an overarching organisational model.

The individual rooms, of about 28 m² net floor area, with separate toilet and bathroom including shower, would be in groups of ten. This model can provide a comfortable and domestic residential setting in four clusters, together making up a new home, for forty old people with complex chronic complaints, mainly dementia.

Once the two projects have been completed, part of the present building will have to be demolished. The 35 remaining housing units will be replaced after 2030. A long-term plan for the development of the whole site is the final part of the assignment.

In architectural terms, the challenge is to execute a building programme on the site that stimulates the community activity, maximises accessibility and at the same time makes possible the best possible accommodation, care, life and welfare, both from the point of view of the residents and that of the management of care. It is intended that Sint-Jozef’s, as a residential care home, occupies a strong position in the caring neighbourhood. The building should be a landmark, a magnet for the neighbourhood and the village.