Camphill Ghent

Camphill Ghent’s Elder Care Initiative is a planned community for senior citizens located

on 109 rural acres in Chatham, NY. The project aims to extend the social-therapeutic

model to address the needs of the frail in an integrated mutually supportive setting.

Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of individual fulfillment and contribution to the community

played a central role in the design strategy. The goal was to create a place that fosters

the art of caring in all its aspects: caring for the individual, caring for the social life of the

community, and caring for the land.

Each building site has a unique program, a sense of community, and a connection to the

land. Built form and landform merge as one expression, minimizing site disturbance and

linking the development to the natural watershed, vegetation patterns, and wind flow.

Dirtworks provided full site planning services, minimizing the impact to existing wetlands

on the site and coordinating the necessary wetland mitigation. In this way the design

provides significant care for the land on its own; other strategies allow for residents more

direct interaction with their environment.

In addition to site planning, Dirtworks designed several smaller outdoor spaces that

support the community’s activities, including a village green, a secured “wandering

garden” for residents with dementia, and a kitchen garden. Sustainable technologies

and a program of biodynamic agriculture foster a sense of connectedness to the natural

world, and encourage residents to access the benefits of this interaction.

Location
Chatham, NY

Size
109 acres

Completion
2011

Collaborators
Perkins Eastman Architects

Recognition
2013 ASLANY Honor Award 2013 Environments for Aging Citation of Merit