By Jeanne Tan / 16-03-2010

The largest community complex built for elderly Chinese residents in The Netherlands was officially opened in February by Amsterdam's recently departed ex-mayor Job Cohen. 

Located in Amsterdam Zuidoost, the Foe Ooi Leeuw apartment - meaning house to live in harmony together - houses 54 elderly residents, all originally from China. The project was an initiative of the Chinese elderly community group Tung Lok.

The aim for the community housing was to not be an anonymous apartment complex, but somewhere where the residents could really feel 'at home.' Additionally, the project was to be a sort of 'pilot' for further similar initiatives. To realise this, a design team was established to emphasise the community aspect of the apartment, and to translate the wishes of the residents into their new home: no easy feat considering there is little Dutch spoken in the group, instead four Chinese languages/dialects.  

Comprising designers, illustrators, interior architects and a photographer, the design team participated in a series of brainstorm sessions, cooking classes and neighborhood excursions with potential residents and the client to become acquainted with the culture. The result is several design initiatives that translate stories and memories of the residents and traditional Chinese symbolism with consideration of the Dutch context of the project into contemporary design.

Designers Irma van Weeren and Laura Braspenning worked with the idea of the kitchen as the heart of the home, with food binding its inhabitants. The Foe Ooi Leeuw porcelain service comprising over 100 dining sets, works as a catalyst to keep organizing future dinners and hence to reinforce the Foe Ooi Leeuw community ties. The blue and white chinaware reflects both Dutch and Chinese  craft traditions with Qing and Ming patterns blended with drawings of daily life of the Chinese in the Netherlands. A flower upon closer inspection consists of a group of people, while airplanes, a familiar sight in Dutch skies traverse across the porcelain. In true occassion, a festive dinner with the residents was held to celebrate the launch of the crocery. The service was hand-painted and made in Jingdezhen, China.

Maaike Roozenburg worked with paper cutting, a traditional craftwork common in both Dutch and Chinese cultures. During different workshops with the residents, the idea arose to decorate the glass windows in the stairwells with oversized, graphic cutouts. The flower motifs (last image) are printed onto semi-transparent foil applied onto the glass, creating a play of light that brings to mind traditional Chinese lanterns.

In other works, calligraphy of Chinese sayings and tales was translated into wall panels by Hoi-Shan Mak, and an active communal social calendar was drawn up by Erika Blikman, Fenmei Hu and Pascal Oppewal.

Photography: Cor van Gastel

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