Stable in West Flanders / Studio Farris Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. Studio Farris Architects transformed a small barn, part of a farm complex with several buildings, into an office space with meeting room, library, office desks and a resting/reading area.

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The owner wanted to have a small office detached from his house so he would be able to work from home at times. The stable was no more in use so he decided to use it as his home-office.

The original stable, dating back to the early 1900s, was composed of several small rooms on two floors. With their renovation, the architects wanted to transform this fragmented space by enhancing the perception of the total form of the building. So they completely emptied it by demolishing the rooms and the first floor. Within this outer brick envelope, they created an inner one made out of concrete. A new “box” with a serene atmosphere was designed and inserted into the original volume. Also,this box-in-box system allows to improve energy efficiency and avoid any chemical reactions with sulphates in the ground and walls of the original farm.

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In order to respond to the functional requirements from the client, the architects decided to design an autonomous furniture object that could divide the space without blocking views nor altering the perception of the whole volume.

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This object, made out of layers of stacked timber beams, transforms the space into a very functional office. The wooden beams top out to a small shared work area with two desks. A meeting area is created below with a view onto the landscape. The stacked beams become library, bookshelves, storage and resting and reading corners.

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The beams were stacked in this particular way to create a staircase to climb to the upper workspace, and can easily reach the different bars on each level.

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The stacked wood mezzanine can be removed, thus making the building free and flexible to contain other objects and interiors.

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The original façade was restored and new openings were created, responding to programmatic needs. Extra windows and skylight take full advantage of natural daylight. A large sliding glass door opens up the interior to the outside.

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