The couple who bought the farmhouse wanted to preserve its traditional character while opening it up to the surrounding landscape.

 

We achieved this by removing most of the interior walls and ceilings to create a large living and kitchen space. We also created three large openings towards the fields and the garden The new window frames seem to dissolve into the existing house. As a result the fine detailing of the old windows is rather accented than opposed.

 

The house has a reduced and bleached palette that is infused by bright colours. The colours are not obvious, but reveal themselves as one moves through the house.

 

The materials are inexpensive and limited to pine wood, concrete and smooth white plaster. Having a restrained budget to work with, our strategy of sticking to mass-produced products opened up for adding elements made on site, like the heated concrete bench, the wooden shower niche or the integrated library.

 

The result is a modest summerhouse full of immaterial qualities: the direct relation to nature, the soft northern light, the sound of water falling on wood and the surprises of hidden doors or splashes of bright colours.

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Architects: LASC studio

Photographs by Stamers Kontor