Ruin House — Nijl, a project to renovate an old family farm in Belgium, won the vote in the seventeenth issue of the Projects of the Week digest. The owners decided to turn it into a country house for several generations, preserving as many of the existing buildings as possible, as they were important to the family as part of its history.
Studio Okami Architects divided the functions between the old and new parts. The preserved buildings contain bedrooms, bathrooms, a study and other private spaces. A new shared section with arched brick facades was built between them, connecting the separate buildings into a single house.
The new architecture does not try to imitate the old. Large brick arches distinguish the extension, while the material connects it to the existing walls. Wide openings open the shared spaces towards the garden. In summer, they allow the interior to merge with the outdoor areas; in winter, the kitchen and fireplace become the main centre of the house.
We have already encountered the same attentive approach to the existing structure in the renovation of a glass factory, where new architecture connects historic buildings, and in La Maison de verre, where a contemporary house is literally built into an old shell.
The kitchen became the centre of the new section. A large kitchen island divides the open space into two zones without partitions: on one side are the dining area and a place for socialising and playing, while on the other is a living room with a fireplace for reading and relaxing. This allows several generations to spend time together without necessarily doing the same thing.
Drawings of Ruin House — Nijl
In Ruin House, the new does not replace the old but takes on the functions that the existing farm lacked. The preserved buildings retain its character and history, while the extension creates a shared space for contemporary family life. The architects do not attempt to return the complex to some hypothetical original state; instead, they adapt it to a new scenario, preserving what continues to work.