To optimize the barn's space, Bard Yersin Architectes incorporated a volume independent of the existing structure, achieving a subdivision suited to domestic needs. Around it, the intermediate areas serve as complementary spaces for cultivation and expansion.
The openings corresponding to the former haylofts house the main living areas, benefiting from open spaces and double-height volumes. In contrast, the sections aligned with the former stables and storerooms are subdivided by terracotta brick cores that contain the service areas.
For its construction, a structural timber grid integrates the new dwelling into the building's existing architectural logic. Wood and glass walls complete the intervention, while the lateral alcoves connect the different rooms and reinforce the perception of the exceptional dimensions of the whole.
The Inverted Farm by Bard Yersin Architectes. Photograph by Willem Pab.
Project description by Bard Yersin Architectes
The project transforms a 19th-century farmhouse. Deprived of its farming use and located outside the building zone, this large volume has become difficult to maintain given the limited habitable floor area permitted. In this context, the client’s mixed residential and permaculture programme represents an opportunity for a coherent reorganisation of the whole.
As the single-storey habitable space provided by the existing building is insufficient for the owner’s needs, the project reverses the original uses: the former agricultural volume accommodates the new home, while the south-facing dwelling is completely emptied and converted into a greenhouse dedicated to permaculture.
Since the barn space remains oversized for domestic requirements, the design strategy introduces a self-contained volume set back from the existing envelope. The resulting intermediate areas alternately offer planting zones and covered outdoor spaces.
To anchor the new dwelling in the building’s constructive logic, it is conceived as a timber structural grid aligned with the module of the existing roof structure and complemented by timber and glass walls.
The bays corresponding to former haylofts accommodate the main living areas, benefiting from double-height volumes and through-spaces, while the segments aligned with the former stables and storage areas are subdivided by terracotta brick cores housing the service spaces. Lateral enfilades connect the different rooms, reinforcing the perception of the building’s exceptional dimensions.
