A disused cow barn from the mid-20th century has been acting as improvised storage for the very bulky stuff of a family farm. The farm owners, a marriage living in the house directly adjacent, commissioned us to transform the barn to accommodate multiple festivities and their children and grandchildren, a growing family, during the year.
The plan describes a simple array of rooms along a corridor-enfilade that connects the living room with the existing house. Rooms are additionally interconnected through bathrooms with double access, weaving a floor plan together that allowed for richer guest-room constellations by creating apartments within apartments.
Existing elements are embraced, integrated, and sometimes mimicked. The hollow brick slab, a post-war building relic, is left exposed and insulated on top, providing historical continuity, warmth in colour and comfort in thermal mass. Traces of the previous use as cow barn were kept for the inhabitants to discover: an old hay ladder, iron cow tail holders and the large wooden shutters amonst many. Special attention was given to the custom-built fixed furniture, kitchens, wardrobes and bathrooms, to enhance and curate the interaction between inhabitant and building, necessary in turning a building into a home.
Since its completion in late 2022, the project has hosted birthdays, farmer’s conventions, marriages, dinners, movie nights and many more festivities, becoming the familiar forum the farm owners so dearly wanted.
The plan describes a simple array of rooms along a corridor-enfilade that connects the living room with the existing house. Rooms are additionally interconnected through bathrooms with double access, weaving a floor plan together that allowed for richer guest-room constellations by creating apartments within apartments.
Existing elements are embraced, integrated, and sometimes mimicked. The hollow brick slab, a post-war building relic, is left exposed and insulated on top, providing historical continuity, warmth in colour and comfort in thermal mass. Traces of the previous use as cow barn were kept for the inhabitants to discover: an old hay ladder, iron cow tail holders and the large wooden shutters amonst many. Special attention was given to the custom-built fixed furniture, kitchens, wardrobes and bathrooms, to enhance and curate the interaction between inhabitant and building, necessary in turning a building into a home.
Since its completion in late 2022, the project has hosted birthdays, farmer’s conventions, marriages, dinners, movie nights and many more festivities, becoming the familiar forum the farm owners so dearly wanted.
