House Plus

Mobile circular care units as a solution in temporary care situations

Staying at home is important not only for the elderly, but also for people who need care in general, both practically and mentally. However, it often happens that the current home is not sufficiently adapted to certain care situations. A temporary adjustment or extension of the home can then provide a solution.

This is the context that gave rise to the idea of the House Plus project. We want to develop a mobile care unit that solves the needs within a care situation on site. In this way, we can temporarily adapt a home with, for example, a ground floor bedroom and/or bathroom extension. In addition, we want to make these units as ecological and circular as possible: the modules can be placed outside or inside the home, are easy to assemble and disassemble, and can be used again and again. The user would not be an owner, but could rent the modules.

Product developer Bruno Van Son and the customisation company Kunnig are currently building the first prototypes, while students from the Construction Department of Odisee University College are being used as critical sounding boards.

What will the future bring?

House Plus will certainly continue to exist after the support of Flanders Circular. In the meantime, we have already developed a second prototype (2a) that is being finished in Kunnig's studio in Hoboken. Consultation with all players will soon follow to find out what is still needed to move on to the first test phase on the site. The aim is to make concrete agreements with care seekers, care providers, but also with intermediaries and care providers.

Furthermore, we have already made the first contacts with a care company in Antwerp. The relaunch of the project can be embedded in a project of the province of Antwerp on healthcare economics. There is already special interest in our concept, especially because of the link with the social economy.