Out-Of-The-barn

Belgium based Studio Farris Architects converted a small barn into an office space replete with a meeting room, library, work spaces, and a resting nook. The result is a beautiful cornucopia of green and open spaces.

- Priyanka Menon

Studio Farris Architects, an Antwerp based practice, recalibrated (quite literally) a century old West Flanders stable, in Belgium, into an office space. The result is nothing like what you imagine when you think of a refurbished barn, which is actually a part of a larger farm complex. Speaking exclusively to Home Review, Architect Giuseppe Farris says, “The space is meant to put you in a different dimension when you’re working.”And we couldn’t agree more!

The owner of the space wanted an office independent and detached from his house. Since the stable was not being put to great use, he decided to convert it to a homeoffice of sorts.

“We didn’t want to design a typical office. We wanted to create an environment where people have the necessary infrastructure to work comfortably, and not because the configuration and classical layout says: “Look at this place. This is an office and you have to work here.”

Before commencing with the revamping of the stable, Studio Farris decided to restore the building’s original façade. Since the stable dates back to the early 1900s, it housed many small rooms in its two-storey structure. Not razing the old structure fully to the ground and then start building was the first step towards lowering the carbon footprint of this project. First, Studio Farris took apart several of these rooms and then demolished the first floor alone.