a2o architecten . photos: © Stijn Bollaert
Residential-care centre Angelahof is the redevelopment of the former Ursulines convent in Diepenbeek. This monastery has a building history dating back to 1856 and several building periods. The main building with a neo-Gothic chapel on the first floor was designed by Mathieu Christiaens and dates from 1888. Only this main building has had monument status since 2009. From the main access (Wijkstraat), the monastery looks hermetic. The concept envisages a building organisation around a central court with a new main entrance to safeguard the protected monument from rigorous alterations. The complex has been extended by two newly built wings perpendicular to the north-south oriented convent. It now comprises 44 rooms and 46 assisted living flats. The main entrance to the care centre between those wings situated at what used to be the rear of the convent. Part of the garden was kept clear of buildings and now connects to a corridor of significant places in Diepenbeek: the centre, the school, the landscape cemetery. This corridor for active transport complements the busy Wijkstraat.
The new wings are materialised in a sober and light, beige-white brick architecture in keeping with the dark reddish-brown cloister. A colonnade of slender, steel columns in front of the new building carries balconies, referencing the chapel’s flawlessly preserved neo-Gothic architecture. The main building with chapel was carefully preserved, from structure to furniture. Various outdoor spaces are created around the old building and the new building, which are arranged as high-quality gardens. These gardens each have a different character and assume the preservation of the existing site profile wherever possible. This creates different viewpoints – high and low – of the gardens, from the grand café, the day room and the garden paths. The entrance is marked by a monumental beech tree that will be preserved.
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