Expertisegebied
Myna, an open care campus
Psychiatric care institutions often carry a heavy legacy: enclosed domains, high walls and a clear distance from society. Myna wants to leave that image firmly behind. In the long term, Campus Melveren will be abandoned and all activities will move to Campus Stad (Ziekeren), just south of the center of Sint-Truiden. The goal is to create a care environment that is open, warm and integrated into the city. No longer an enclave, but a place where patients, staff, local residents and visitors can meet.
Sweco is guiding this transformation with a renewed master plan that builds on earlier visions while adapting them to contemporary insights in healthcare, urban planning and sustainability. At its core lies a clear ambition: the campus should not only improve functionally, but also gain a new identity aligned with Myna’s open and recovery-oriented vision.
- Expertise:
- Health & life sciences
- Client
- Broeders van Liefde vzw
- Location
- Sint-Truiden
- Sweco services
- Master planning, architecture, interior architecture, structural engineering, special techniques, acoustics
- Partners
- Landscape design: Aad — EPB: Veto
From institution to park
Today, the existing campus is expansive, difficult to navigate and not very inviting to its surroundings. Although there is plenty of greenery, the domain does not feel like a park and lacks a clear structure. The master plan therefore builds on the qualities already present, the landscape, the historic buildings and the proximity to the city and strengthens them into a coherent whole.
The site is being developed as a publicly accessible park area that forms part of a broader green corridor through the Sint-Pieter district. Walking and cycling paths cross the domain, car traffic is moved to the edges, and new tree-lined avenues give the campus a recognizable structure. The result is a green lung that is not only therapeutic for patients, but also a valuable public space for the neighborhood.
The boundary between care and city blurs
One of the main objectives is to break through the site’s closed character. Today the campus is largely inward-looking; in the future it must become an inviting transition between the care site and the residential area. This will be achieved, among other things, by creating a new main entrance and adding public functions that are also attractive to external visitors.
At the entrance, a meeting square will serve as a hinge between city and campus. The ground floor of the new administrative building will house a small-scale hospitality facility, allowing walkers, cyclists and local residents to use the site spontaneously. The campus thus becomes a daily destination rather than a place visited only for care.
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A recognizable heart for an extensive site
The current campus lacks a clear center and orientation point. The plan therefore introduces a new landmarknbuilding that brings together all administrative services. This building will not only mark the main entrance, but also create a recognizable heart for the entire site. Together with the adjacent square, it will form a place of reception, encounter and activity.
In addition, a new care building for intensive psychiatric treatment will be constructed, designed according to contemporary standards. Underground parking frees up above-ground space for greenery and quality of stay, while maintaining accessibility.
Heritage as a carrier of identity
Notably, the choice was not made for an entirely new campus. On the contrary, several historic buildings will be preserved and given new functions. The chapel and monastery will be renovated and integrated into the new ensemble, including as conference and meeting spaces. By linking these buildings with the new construction, the campus will express both continuity and renewal.
This approach strengthens not only spatial quality but also the connection with the surroundings. The historic volumes act as recognizable landmarks in the urban landscape and give the campus a human scale.
Care tailored in a homelike environment
The organization of care itself is also changing. Large institutional buildings are being replaced by small scale units that better reflect patients’ everyday lives. New care volumes are conceived as pavilions in the park, often arranged around patios that provide safe and sheltered outdoor spaces.
Each unit of the new Intensive Services building has its own front door, creating an inviting and accessible appearance. The different units are interconnected by a “care street.” At the center of the building, an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) is provided to receive new patients in a more homelike, non-institutional way, with one-to-one support. The result is an environment that supports calm, privacy and recovery, while allowing staff to move efficiently between units.
This architecture aligns with Myna’s vision of delivering care in open dialogue with patients and society, in a warm and committed atmosphere.
This project is the result of our constructive and exploratory collaboration with Myna. We were given ample space and trust to translate the ideas from the master plan into this first subproject. The landmark brings together all general campus functions in a compact and distinctive building volume, forming a close unity with the existing monastery building. The care building has been designed to be future-oriented and flexible, with the different departments intelligently interconnected. In terms of care vision, this is one of the first new-build projects in Flanders to introduce an HIC (High & Intensive Care) model. This approach places strong emphasis on safety, prevention and a personal, patient-centered approach.
Frederique Lievens, architect – Sweco architects
Future-proof and sustainable
The redevelopment also offers opportunities to make the campus climate-resilient. New buildings will be equipped with sustainable technologies such as heat pumps and green roofs, while the landscape will be designed to allow local rainwater infiltration through swales and permeable paving. Existing greenery will be preserved as much as possible and complemented with new plantings, strengthening biodiversity and the microclimate.
A long-term vision for care in the city
The transformation of Campus Stad is not a short-term project but a phased process spanning several decades. Step by step, the site will grow into an open care campus seamlessly integrated into the urban fabric of Sint-Truiden. By weaving together care, nature and public space, it will become a place that not only functions for patients and staff but also delivers clear societal value.
The project demonstrates how contemporary master planning can contribute to the destigmatization of mental healthcare and to the creation of inclusive urban environments. The campus will thus become not only a place of treatment, but also part of everyday urban life? an environment where recovery, encounter and community take center stage.