STUDIO FARRIS ARCHITECTS

STABLE IN WEST FLANDERS
Studio Farris Architects transformed a small barn, part of a farm com plex with several buildings, into
an office space with meeting room, library, office desks and a .resting / reading area
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
reno vation, 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   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 per- .ception of the whole volume
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
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
The stacked wood mezzanine can be removed, thus making the building free and flexible to contain
other objects and interiors