FORM / STUDIO

09 / 12West Flanders, BelgiumRenovation2023

Barn Conversion

A tall black timber-finned gabled building on a green field.

A timber barn on open farmland, converted without turning it into a house-shaped house. The threshing doors remain the largest openings. The frame remains visible from every room.

Location
West Flanders, Belgium
Year
2023
Project type
Renovation
Status
Completed
Surface area
284 m²
Scope
Conversion, insulation, kitchen and stair joinery
Timber survey
Bureau W. (fictional)
Energy
Bureau S. (fictional)

Fictional project. Photographs are illustrative stock and do not show a building by FORM Studio.

Existing building

The frame was sound; the cladding was not. A structural survey marked each post in need of repair, and only eleven of ninety needed new timber. A new insulated skin wraps the outside of the frame so that the structure stays visible indoors and the interior does not lose a centimetre.

Low sunlight through the open side of an old timber barn, with fields beyond.
Fig. 1 Before works: the threshing doors open to the field.
Stacked hay bales against the raw timber braces of a barn.
Fig. 2 Before works: the frame, still in use for hay.
D01Retained frame, new liningsAxonometricIllustrative drawing
Retained frame, new linings: illustrative axonometricAxonometric of the long gabled barn, retained structure in grey, with a low service volume inserted at one end.

Light

Barns are dark on purpose. Rather than cut new windows into the long walls, which would have made the building read as a house, we opened rooflights between the existing rafters on the north slope. Their positions came from the rhythm of the old frame, which is why they do not line up with the rooms below.

A dining table under white sloped ceilings and rooflights, between heavy old timber posts.
Fig. 3 Kitchen and dining, below the rooflights. New linings stop short of the old posts.
D02Ground floorPlanIllustrative drawing
Ground floor: illustrative floor planIllustrative plan of about 24.40 by 9.00 metres containing Threshing floor, Kitchen, Great room, Bedroom, Bathroom, Guest room. The numbered key beside the drawing lists each room.1234565.005.008.003.003.4024.405.004.00AAN05 m
  1. 1Threshing floor43.3 m²
  2. 2Kitchen43.3 m²
  3. 3Great room70.0 m²
  4. 4Bedroom14.1 m²
  5. 5Bathroom11.2 m²
  6. 6Guest room29.1 m²
A white sloping ceiling with a rooflight set between timber rafters.
Fig. 4 Rooflight between rafters, with an oiled board lining.
D03Section A–ASectionIllustrative drawing
Section A–A: illustrative sectionIllustrative section cut through the building, 9 metres to the highest point, with the retained structure shown in grey.Great room+0.00+3.00+5.2005 m■ Retained ■ New
D04South elevationElevationIllustrative drawing
South elevation: illustrative elevationIllustrative elevation in timber, about 31 metres wide.05 m
A plain grey timber shed under a heavy sky, with long grass in front.
Fig. 5 The smaller shed alongside, left as it was.

Material schedule

  1. M01

    Blackened larch

    Facade fins and doors

    Fixed on battens outside a new insulated skin, so the old frame could stay exposed on the inside.

  2. M02

    Retained oak frame

    Posts, tie beams, rafters

    Cleaned with a soft brush only. Old fixings, mortices and numbers cut by the first carpenters all stay.

  3. M03

    White-oiled board

    New ceiling linings

    Follows the slope of the roof between the rafters, and doubles the reflected light from the rooflights.