ZMK
Together
Art integration in and around the new hospital in Maaseik, Belgium.
DESIGN ROEL VANDEBEEK
IN COLLAB WITH WERKHUIZEN HENGELHOEF
FOR ZIEKENHUIS MAAS KEMPEN
YEAR 2017
As a designer, I always start from the identity of the client, institution, municipality, company,… This is also the case with this project about art integration. I try to get into the home of ZMK in terms of the building, the environment, the employees and visitors. What I find particularly important are the different “touch points” that you encounter when you enter the site. But you have to deal with this not only outside, but also in the building.
My idea was to construct very large words that are spread like beacons in the landscape and that, in a small format, could also be found in the hospital. The big words communicate with everyone who enters the domain. They welcome you, make you think, support you. They represent ZMK’s philosophy with its employees and visitors across the site. They are the beacons in the public domain that becomes more human in this way. They meet you and make you forget for a moment that you are in a hospital setting. It’s as if they have always been there.
“Together” is the first word you come across and also the title of this project. Because I cannot possibly decide which words best represent this hospital, I decided to put together a team consisting of employees from different departments of the hospital, from cleaning service to doctor. With this team, which consists of five people, I held several workshops and went through the entire process together. Due to their involvement and the “homework” they were given to solve with their department, in the search for the right words, most departments were already involved in advance, which entailed a social interaction. The work of art began to live before it was even executed.
