A stone’s throw north of the village of Huldenberg lies the Ganspoel centre: a campus in the heart of the green Dyle landscape, offering education, accommodation and assistance to people in need of care. In the first phase of a master plan to prepare the campus for the future, the Antwerp-based architectural firm Collectief Noord has designed a residential building comprising sixty housing units for residents with visual impairments and/or multiple disabilities. This building, whose high-quality design meets exceptional and complex housing requirements, takes the form of three elongated fingers stretching out from a kind of dyke towards the rolling landscape. This layout, which emphasises spatial quality and the use of space, also organises the internal logistics of a unique residential community.

The Ganspoel Centre is an astonishing place: this soon-to-be century-old enclave dedicated to care (founded by a priest who was himself blinded in the war and wanted to help the blind and visually impaired) has gradually transformed into a motley collection of buildings scattered freely across a long plot of land bordering a small country road. Due to its isolated location, the campus offers its residents the peace and quiet that many of them need; on the other hand, the site does not take advantage of the magnificent openness of the surrounding landscape. The campus is full: before anything can be built, something will have to be demolished.