In an old Tuscan farmhouse there is a residential space renovated with all comforts of a modern house. Light and lightness are the two key words that have accompanied us in the design of this residential space.
The concept idea wants to tell the elements of tradition in a new vision, the wise balance between tradition and contemporary, between light and darkness, between shadow and brightness. Materials with natural finishes and mirror polished surfaces alternate in a dynamic equilibrium, full of contrasts and nuances.
It was only after living in their 400-year-old Jacobean farmhouse in Suffolk for 3 years that Architect Howard Nash (Co-director of Nash Baker Architects) and his partner Monique Beauval-Nash felt they knew the building well enough to make a start on its renovation. They used this long gestation period to good effect, repairing and improving decaying Victorian farm outbuildings and developing creative ways of tackling the architectural and conservation issues raised by the main farmhouse.
Now, they have completed building works to the farmhouse and the result is a subtle and exquisite weaving together of the historic, the not-quite-so historic and the contemporary into a quietly confident statement of architectural and design excellence.
Talk about a house with history. This farmhouse comprises two towers dating back to the 16th century and a main house added in the 17th century. Fun fact: the towers once served as watchtowers for a nearby castle to look out for pirates coming in from sea.
With such a long, rich history, these towers were placed under national protection, requiring us to focus our attention on the main house. Even this main building required careful consideration, using specialist builders and architects to restore this gem to its former glory.
This couple purchased a second home as a respite from city living. Living primarily in downtown Chicago the couple desired a place to connect with nature. The home is located on 80 acres and is situated far back on a wooded lot with a pond, pool and a detached rec room. The home includes four bedrooms and one bunkroom along with five full baths.
The Primavera Farm project is an intervention in a pre-existing property, which had undergone successive extensions without planning or supervision of architectural professionals. Thus, its architecture lacked cohesion, organization and aesthetic unity. The building had transitional spaces in privileged spots, while social spaces were relegated to the background. The project aimed to connect these spaces, taking advantage of the surrounding view and improving the quality of its architecture. The renovation also needed to take advantage of the original structure as much as possible, lowering costs and unnecessary interventions.
Drangar is a large estate on the northern shore of the Snæfellsnes peninsula including a handful of islands in the Breiðfjörður archipelago. Until recently the land was a farm with a collection of buildings built according to standard, state issue, blueprints in the early eighties. When the present owners acquired the property, the buildings were in a decrepit state of repair, some had even collapsed of their own accord.
The remaining structures were the farmhouse, tractorshed, hay-tower and cowshed and barn. Of the four the house was in the best condition and, sporting a dormer of absurd proportions, it is the most unique of the structures. Its renovation will be part of a later phase. The hay-tower is happily crumbling and will be allowed to continue doing so.
The Tatersal Amador Aguiar consists in a complex to support Valonia Farm, an estate dedicated to cattle auctions field, located in Lins, a city in the interior of São Paulo State – Brazil. Its program provides basic infrastructure to the livestock show and guest reception, creating exhibition and confraternization spaces.
The approach to the site suggests an effective rereading of corrals in farms, usually composed by gable roofs, setting a patio. Moreover, the program organization considers service flows, accessibility for the guests, besides taking into account the privileged perspectives to surrounding landscape.
Set on a bucolic 220 acre farm in Dutchess County NY, this private home manifests the duality of living on this site: The desire for transparency and engagement with the landscape vs the desire for privacy. Rather than resolving this duality in a single object/condition, our solution allows these conditions to exist in a tangential relationship. In this Venn diagram, there is no overlap. The public-facing areas of the house are contained within a glass volume that floats across the landscape. The private-facing areas of the house are protected by a volume of locally-sourced stone embedded in the landscape. The perpendicular orientation of the two volumes differentiates these two conditions, minimizing their overlap and emphasizing the landscape quality of the lower volume as an extension of the outdoor “landscape” for the glass volume. While the upper volume is defined by the horizontal planes of the floor and roof that extend past the vertical planes of glass, the lower volume is defined by the vertical walls which rise above the roof surface, providing for a planted landscape and terrace area set into the stone parapet.
At BXBstudio we design buildings that are both, modern and routed in tradition. This combination allows us to create interesting design shapes like ”The Polish Farmhouse”, where in the place of five outbuildings we designed five ”Polish Barns”, and these barns create an interesting space. On one side it creates a courtyard together with an existing, historical house, over 100 years old, and on the opposite side these barns open up onto a beautiful landscape. The old house has become a party or hobby place and can serve as a house for guests. The new family house (Polish Barns) has a unique layout consisting of a garage and a gym on the road side, an entrance space and kitchen on the courtyard side, children and study rooms beside some trees and a pond. At the back of the Farmhouse there is a living area with a private parents space above. The living area is open to the surroundings on all sides.
International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled the Greenary, a renovated farmhouse designed around a 10-meter-high (32-feet-high) Ficus growing within the main living area. Living quarters encircle the tree’s leafy branches up to the top. The Greenary will be built in the countryside close to Parma, Northern Italy as a private residence. It is the first step of the master plan for Mutti, the leading tomato company, which CRA won in 2017 after an international competition. The house and the factory are being developed in close continuity due to their physical proximity and their joint call for a closer integration between nature and the built environment.
CRA Team: Carlo Ratti, Giovanni de Niederhausern, Saverio Panata, Andrea Cassi (project manager) Francesco Strocchio (project leader), Alberto Benetti, Anna Morani, Gerolamo Gnecchi Ruscone, Giovanni Trogu
Renderings by CRA Graphic Team: Gary di Silvio, Pasquale Milieri, Gianluca Zimbardi
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