Prinsengracht Hospital The Path of Memory Research Report Graduation Studio Heritage & Design V.A.Piras (4322487) Technical University of Delft - Faculty of Architecture Chair of Heritage & Architecture TUTORS: Lidy Meijers Frank Kopmaan Index 8 Chapter One _ Introduction 9 1.1 Introduction 10 1.1 a Amsterdam & The 17th Century Expansion 12 1.1.b Problem Statement 16 1.2 Research Question 17 1.2.a Sub question 1.2.b Sub question 1.3 Methodology 18 1.3.a Aspects to be discovered 19 1.3.b Scheme of Work & Analysis 20 Chapter Two _ Systems of Health&Welfare 22 2.1 Europe 2.1.a Hospital & Nursing School 25 2.1.b Almshouses 26 2.2 In the Netherlands 27 2.2.a Buildings for Health (Amsterdam) 29 2.2 b Buildings for Welfare (Amsterdam) 31 2.3 Current Situation in systems of Health & Welfare 33 2.3.a Amsterdam 35 Chapter Three _ The Prinsengracht Hospital 37 3.1 The Canal Ring Area 40 3.2 The transformation process 52 3.3 Current Situation 54 3.4 Future Initiatives 55 Chapter Four _ Users Perception in the Hospital 56 4.1 Originally Usage - Comfort - Maintenance - Sustainability 58 4.2 Currently Usage - Comfort - Maintenance - Sustainability 60 Chapter Five _ Values of the Building 66 Chapter Six _ The Design for a Future Use 67 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Increase in life expectancy 68 6.3 Dementia & Alzheimer´s disease Outlines 69 6.4 Stages 71 6.5 Facts and Statistics 72 SECTION A _ DEMENTIA 73 PART 1_ Demented patient, caregiver and Health Services 1.1 Alzheimer´s ill and its relation with/ within Society 1.1.a Family and home care 74 1.1 b The Health Structures 75 1.2 Alzheimer´s ill and its relation with Architecture 76 1.3 Conclusions 77 PART 2_ Facing Reality 2.1 Common mistakes 2.2 Increase in problematics 78 SECTION B _ DESIGN PRINCIPLES 81 Chapter Seven _ Conclusions 83 Bibliography PREFACE This research is the result of a graduation process, started February 2015 at the Technical University (TU) of Delft in the track of Heritage & Architecture. The mentioned specialization is set to constitute design projects for the existing built environment. The term “Heritage” ( features belonging to the culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages or buildings, that were created in the past and still have historical importance ) is intended in a broad sense and on a wider screen from the mere building´s or complex´s monument status. Time becomes an essential member in both creation and defnition of the future project development and helps identify the value of the built heritage of the country. The following report constitutes a complete record of the documents brought through from the research and analysis carried out on the atelier of Heritage & Design _ Amsterdam Design Studio during the academic period of 2015/16. The above-mentioned specialization deals with existing structures and their potential of adaptation in an over changing community and urban environment by setting a open design goal, which as to respond to a functional heritage. In detail, the building selected is the former Prinsengracht Hospital, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Area and inserted in the 17th century Canal Ring Area (Grachtengordel). To deal with a cultural and social heritage the understanding of the tangible and intangible elements is essential and mandatory for the constitution of a valuable intervention strategy, which will proactively tackle the needs of the users and display the potential of the preexistence. Due to this an investigative process as been carried out during the thematic research to highlight the necessities and possibilities of the building in relation to wider contexts, like the urban and district environments. Different scales and dimensions of analysis are the foundation to a knowledge acquired throughout the entire course of the survey. Thank to this preliminary investigation, the project established keeps the infuence of the original treatment facility function but addressed new challenges faced by the current society. Subsequently, inspired by the raising life expectancy that we are observing, the diseases connected to it and based on the unique enclosed nature of the architectonical manufacture the proposal for a Dementia Village was formed. - 6 - To improve the understanding of the complete mind method and design planning behind this report, the consecutive chapters will be - in an overview - described as it follows : * Chapter 1 introduces the process of analysis, the questions that it brought forward and the method selected to fnd the answers to the designated queries. * Chapter 2 spans from the motivations behind the systems of Health and Welfare to the architectonical forms that symbolized them in Europe and purposely in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam. From this overview of the level of the City, the focus moves to the building itself, so in * Chapter 3 the Prinsengracht Hospital is introduced; from its location to the process of modifcation that constitute it and with a fnal look of what the future holds for it in the range of initiatives. * Chapter 4 expands the spectrum to the experience that users in time tested directly and indirectly in the complex, which helps outline the values of the building in * Chapter 5. Then, the future design is presented and with it the designated project; * Chapter 6, therefore, connects the past and the future in a plot where the necessities of the current society and the tangible and intangible values of the Prinsengracht Hospital are connected. This chapter is enriched by two sub-sections that give an overview frstly, on the illness and its implication in the case of architecture and space, and then of the design principles that this relation arises. Lastly, * Chapter 7 nails down the result of the process of analysis, the discoveries and the data captured. - 7 - Chapter One Introduction - 8 - 1.1 _ Introduction The Prinsengracht Hospital is a building complex set in between the Prinsengracht and the Keerkstraat in the middle of the designated UNESCO World Heritage Area. It exhibits a conglomerated of building blocks, all representative of a number of adaptations needed in time to endorse the increase number of users and their changing necessities. The main buildings was constructed between 1857 and 1903 after the sketches of J.H. Leliman; from then on a number of modifcations and incremental improvements have taken place in a time lapse of 54 years and have altered the original volume to the level where it constitutes an unusual and dense composition in one of the most relevant areas of the city center of Amsterdam. The edifce started its life as the location for the “Society for nursing”; at that time it was important to train nurses so that they were able to take care of the patients in their homes without extra assistance. During the 19th century, with the achievements in the feld of medical science, a lot of surgical procedures could not take place in private residences and therefore the necessity for hospital arise. In the specifc case of the Prinsegnracht, at the beginning both functions (training and care) were maintained, but in time the initial academic purpose of the complex left space to the simple care, in the sense of hospitality and cure of ill people. With the events of the Second World War and the loss of monetary funds, the health-care system of Amsterdam was affected until the early Sixties, when it started gaining back its importance thanks to the economical boom. Despite this positive rise, hospitals set in the city center lost their usage and importance due to the migration of the majority of the inhabitants in the new peripheral districts newly designed. Same faith attended the Prinsengracht complex, that lost his care purpose and became useless. The understanding of this specifc architectonic component and its value starts from the relation that it had/has with the city. Location and spatial conformation are the main factors to be defned, always in relation to the usage. Therefore, starting from the morphological composition of Amsterdam and the development that it underwent, it is easily understandable how the dimension of the hospital represents an unusual presence in the urban pattern. - 9 - 1.1 a _ Amsterdam & The 17th Century Expansion The origin of the city of Amsterdam lies in the 12th Century, when fshermen living on the banks of the Amstel river built a bridge across the waterway; the lower wooden structure of it served as a dam (currently where Dam Square is positioned), protecting the villages from frequent foating. this was the establishment of the frst natural harbor which quickly became an important trading-exchange point. The name Amsterdam derived from it as well; the settlement of the “dam in the river Amstel” - referred for the frst time in this term on a document dated October 27, 1275 -, in Dutch “Aemstelredamme”, quickly was summarized as we all know. During the Middle ages the old city center that we identify currently in the “Old Side” and “New Side” was found. This represents an area compact enough to be traverse easily on foot, in a time lapse of half an hour, a core separated by Damrak ( the path between Dam Square and the Central Station) and Rokin (the path between Dam Square and Muntplein), a trajectory used to form the fnal stretch of the Amstel River. With time Damrak and Rokin, which used to be canals became flled and paved. The next important step in the history of the city started with the Dutch Golden Age, a period where trade, art, history, military power and science of the Netherlands became the world´s most acclaimed.