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Architects: BLAF Architecten
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Stijn Bollaert
Text description provided by the architects. Piet Goddaer, also known as Ozark Henry, lives and works in the coastal region, where he experienced the most beautiful times of his youth. When he was looking for a suitable industrial building to house his new studio - ‘I need space and height’ - a for-sale farmstead caught his attention. The house with adjacent stable and shop initially charmed him because of their location by the old canal. He realized that this would be his new creative nest at the first sight of the enormous garage for agricultural vehicles at the back. A complete surprise, as that building was largely hidden from the street view.
At the street side, you enter a concrete podium with an outdoor kitchen. A personal creation that can close from a distance into a perfect cube that hides cooking burners and base cabinets. The lower part is a terrace with an outdoor fireplace.
From the old garage, only the structure and the lower part of the exterior walls remain. Under a roof of transparent corrugated sheets, wooden walls delineate a central box-in-box interior space, with a lounge and studio. There are large covered outdoor spaces at the front and back. During the day, the whole setup resembles a marketplace, while in the evening, LED lighting creates the appearance of a moored boat.
The house, together with the extension, becomes a multi-functional unit, with offices and guest rooms. Where the shop and stable used to be, a wall with window openings is now rising, which will later not be fitted with glass, but with vegetation. A transparent indoor volume will be incorporated into this ‘ruin’.
Architecture should start from the question of how people will use a space, to create quality of life from there. It should respect the environment and the history of the site.
Living and working are inherently intertwined; the work environment doubles as a recreational space. Everything can merge seamlessly. The studio can perfectly function as a living space. Visitors and employees should experience it this way too.
