BPD

Designing social spaces in a chapel

BPD is developing a new neighborhood around and in the former deaf institute monastery in the Netherlands. Within the monastery are two chapels, one on the boy's side and one on the girls' side. The girls' chapel will be transformed into a vibrant social space where future residents can come together and connect.

The goal? To foster stong social cohesion between the diverse groups of people who will soon call this new neighborhood home.

Me and my teammate were asked to design the concept for this space, including the overall vision, programming and user experience. We focused on making the space inclusive, sensory-rich and rooted in the heritage of the location.

Research

We explored the history of the former deaf institute monastery and investigated the different groups currently living and those who will live, in the new neighborhood around it. We also researched similar existing experiences, listened to the wishes of the project managers, reflected on our own goals and considered what would be truly inclusive and feasible within the space.

Through this process, I learned how to balance different perspectives, connect heritage with innovation and design a concept that creates meaningful encounters between people.

Ideation

During the ideation phase, we explored a wide range of possibilities by using creative ideation tools. These tools helped us think beyond the obvious. We drew inspiration from outside the project context, visiting similar spaces, studying sensory design, understanding the human learning processes and researching interests of the target groups. This to ensure our concept and storytelling was both innovative and deeply rooted in user experience. This combination led to a concept that is imaginative, inclusive and meaningful.

The concept

We created a mascot to connect the different spaces and create one storyline. We filled in the spaces with different concepts with different goals like to create a better understanding of the history and what it is like being deaf or a sensory room created to fully experience senses.

This project taught me valuable lessons as a business innovator, from translating social needs into spatial and experiential concepts, to working iteratively with stakeholders and users. I learned how important it is to combine creativity with strategy. Also seeing how powerful design can be in shaping community, inclusivity, and long-term impact. It strengthened my ability to think conceptually while staying grounded in feasibility and user value.

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