Conversion of Farmhouse Lennik into a single family house
02/07/2015.
by Studio Farris. [Lennik] Belgium
metalocus, SILVIA BATRES
metalocus, SILVIA BATRES
Studio Farris Architects presents this reconstruction carefully and trying to understand and respect this type of housing. They project this new spaces adapting previous one on new ways of living spaces.
Description of the project by Studio Farris
Of the 4 existing volumes, a storage room and pigsty were demolished, while the other pigsty and the adjacent 1960's house were renovated.
Starting from a careful research and study of the farmhouse typology and how to keep and reinforce its authenticity while at the same time allowing it to answer to contemporary living standards, a concept that is often seen in old farms around the area was applied.
To provide each room with the necessary amount of natural light, windows and doors were bricked up and cut out in a pragmatic way, making the façade a whimsical patchwork of old and new scars that show its history and give back and reinforce the identity it had lost over the years.
A box-in-box system was created to avoid any chemical reactions with sulfates in the ground and walls of the original farm. This system also takes care of the energy-efficiency of the house.
Typological fragments are reinterpreted throughout the house. The fireplace, which is a 6 meter high, suspended steel construction, is the heart of the house.
The front garden was designed to create serenity and connect the farmhouse to its outbuildings. The backyard is a patchwork of pragmatic shapes in typological materials that enhance the connection with the horizon and create unexpected perspective.
Text.- Studio Farris
CREDITS. TECHNICAL DATA.-
Architect.- Studio Farris.
Structural Engineering.- Jan Van Aelst.
Client.- Private.
Surface.- 256 sqm.
Year.- 2013.
Studio Farris Architects is an architectural practice based in Antwerp, Belgium and founded by Italian architect Giuseppe Farris in 2008. The studio’s goal is to discover the intrinsic potential in every project, questioning the obvious, exploring the surroundings and cultural heritage. This always while looking for harmony between sustainability and innovation, functionality and experience, ratio and feeling. The building’s users play a fundamental role in the conception of the architecture.
Giuseppe Farris was born on November 11, 1972 in Cagliari, Italy. After attending secondary school, he got his master in architecture at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV) in Venice.
In 2001 he moves to Belgium and from then he works on various projects in cooperation with Jo Crepaim. In 2008 he founds Giuseppe Farris Architects in Antwerp of which he is currently the managing director and lead architect. In 2009 he wins the competition for the refurbishment of the entrance hall of the Flemish Parliament in Brussels. After the completion in 2010, he was nominated for the Dutch Lai Award. The renovation of the city hall of Leuven, to host new spaces for Belgium’s public broadcasting company VRT, started in 2010 and was finished in 2012. In early 2015, he was nominated for the WAN 21 for21 Award (London), and shortly thereafter he won the Architizer A+ Award (New York) for the Park Tower.