Simon Durand . Photos: © Alan Hasoo
Inside an old 17th-century barn in which no line is straight, a wooden box with fully glazed facades takes place to accommodate a new apartment.
The contemporary intervention constantly echoes the traditional Swiss agricultural constructions, reinterpreting some of their archetypes, diverting them from their primary use to generate a surprising dwelling, with unusual proportions, which revolves entirely around the enhancement of the historical wooden frame. Set back from the original envelope by 4m, the glazed box leaves on either side vast covered terraces, and intermediate spaces to invest, between the new apartment and the outdoor gardens.
The main space, 3.15m high, is made accessible by the new barn bridge on the outside. Below, a lower space, 2.09m high, generates a welcome intimacy. When the sliding windows are open, the space expands to become this hybrid place that is neither completely interior nor completely exterior.
Further back in the barn, behind a large wooden facade hide the bedrooms which also open onto the covered terraces. The bathroom, in the center, is covered with a “terminal”, a typical trapezoidal vertical space previously used to dry food. Here, it ends with a window that opens and once again reveals the historical framework.
The space is fluid, and opens and closes, according to the seasons and uses. The kitchen, mobile, moves. The stair hatch folds down. The light seeps through the panes of glass which alone betray from the outside the presence of a project in this old barn. The encounter between the historic and the modern construction creates spaces of unexpected proportions, with changing light, in which the inside and the outside sometimes mix, multiplying the possibilities.
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