Balancing Barn / MVRDV

Oct 2010

Uploaded by Kelly Minner — Filed under: Houses ,Selected , Concrete, England, Living Architecture, Metal, MVRDV, Suffolk

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Architect: MVRDV
Location: Suffolk, England
Design Team: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Frans de Witte, Gijs Rikken
Co-Architect: Mole Architects
Landscape Architects: The Landscape Partnership
Client: Living Architecture
Project Area: 210 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photography: Edmund Sumner

Balancing Barn is situated on a beautiful site by a small lake in the English countryside near Thorington in Suffolk. The Barn responds through its architecture and engineering to the site condition and natural setting. The traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting take their references from the local building vernacular. In this sense the Balancing Barn aims to live up to its educational goal in re-evaluating the countryside and making modern architecture accessible. Additionally, it is both a restful and exciting holiday home. Furnished to a high standard of comfort and elegance, set in a quintessentially English landscape, it engages its temporary inhabitants in an experience.

Approaching along the 300 meter driveway, Balancing Barn looks like a small, two-person house. It is only when visitors reach the end of the track that they suddenly experience the full length of the volume and the cantilever. The Barn is 30 meters long, with a 15 meters cantilever over a slope, plunging the house headlong into nature. The reason for this spectacular setting is the linear experience of nature. As the site slopes, and the landscape with it, the visitor experiences nature first at ground level and ultimately at tree height. The linear structure provides the stage for a changing outdoor experience.

At the midpoint the Barn starts to cantilever over the descending slope, a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building, resulting in 50% of the barn being in free space. The structure balances on a central concrete core, with the section that sits on the ground constructed from heavier materials than the cantilevered section. The long sides of the structure are well concealed by trees, offering privacy inside and around the Barn.

The exterior is covered in reflective metal sheeting, which, like the pitched roof, takes its references from the local building vernacular and reflects the surrounding nature and changing seasons.

On entering the Barn, one steps into a kitchen and a large dining room. A series of four double bedrooms follows, each with separate bathroom and toilet. In the very centre of the barn the bedroom sequence is interrupted by a hidden staircase providing access to the garden beneath. In the far, cantilevered end of the barn, there is a large living space with windows in three of its walls, floor and ceiling. The addition of a fireplace makes it possible to experience all four elements on a rainy day. Full height sliding windows and roof lights throughout the house ensure continuous views of, access to and connectivity with nature.

The interior is based on two main objectives:

- The house is an archetypical two-person home, expanded in shape and content so that it can equally comfortably accommodate eight. Two will not feel lost in the space, and a group of eight will not feel too cramped.

- A neutral, timeless timber is the backdrop for the interior, in which Studio Makkink & Bey have created a range of furnishings that reflect the design concept of the Barn.

The rooms are themed. Partly pixilated and enlarged cloud studies by John Constable and country scenes by Thomas Gainsborough are used as connecting elements between the past and contemporary Britain, as carpets, wall papers and mounted textile wall-elements. The crockery is made up of a set of English classics for two, and a modern series for a further six guests, making an endless series of combinations possible and adding the character of a private residence to the home.

The Barn is highly insulated, ventilated by a heat recovery system, warmed by a ground source heat pump, resulting in a high energy efficient building.

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: © Edmund Sumner

: Floor Plan

: Roof Plan

: Section

: Section

: North Elevation

: East Elevation

: South Elevation

* Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.

Cite:
Minner , Kelly . "Balancing Barn / MVRDV" 14 Oct 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 22 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/81757>

Comments (21)
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Chicago Mike says:

Super cool country house! Love the swing…

# October 14, 2010 at 11:46

Evan Troxel says:

I love this project! The swing and glass floor are really nice touches, and it looks like a comfortable, warm place inside. A structural feat.

# October 14, 2010 at 11:51

up_today_arch says:

Good example whan the idea means more then realization, successfully or not…

# October 14, 2010 at 13:40

bob says:

lovely

# October 14, 2010 at 14:19

mucho bucho says:

It reminds me of the north american postmodernism, where they live in giant shoes or giant woolen balls. Dont know why, it just reminds me..

# October 14, 2010 at 18:07

ts says:

@up…
Im not even sure the idea is meaningful. At least as its written up here. Sounds like the Architects had a hill so they thought a cantilever was an appropriate response, and the metal work is pillowy, and oil canny bad.

“The Barn responds through its architecture and engineering to the site condition and natural setting. The traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting take their references from the local building vernacular.”

# October 14, 2010 at 19:10

Sameer says:

Its a very cerebral response- and a detached one at that; as if MVRDV viewed the site as a geometric abstraction and only that sitting comfortably in their offices.

Ah the perils of being too smart.

# October 14, 2010 at 20:25

ohtwo says:

I find the whole thing unsettling, like a school bus teetering on the edge of a cliff. Let’s hope that the little girl on the swing doesn’t gain any weight, or the whole thing might come tumbling over.

Plus, that’s one heck of a looooong walk from the dining/kitchen to the living room.

# October 15, 2010 at 00:14

BrianMCKINNEY says:

Great house. I don’t feel I deserve to criticize. But, I’m not feeling the exterior cladding. It would be a great, subtle, statement to have the unassuming “barn”, clad in somewhat traditional material surprise visitors. More so, I think the engineering and visual approach makes a statement enough. Aluminum? Too Andy Warhol.

# October 15, 2010 at 00:58

kem tui says:

nonsense…

# October 15, 2010 at 02:38

button says:

It’s a shame that there is no site plan or photograph of the view out the end window…without knowing this it gives the impression that everything in the house is in service of the form rather than the other way round. There is a house in Portugal which I think achieves a much more beautiful resolution from a similar starting point.

http://www.archdaily.com/1063/house-in-geres-graca-correia-y-roberto-ragazzi/

# October 15, 2010 at 05:01

Maarten says:

Very rough finishings, and the roof angle feels out of proportion. It’s just not refined enough. Don’t like it

# October 15, 2010 at 05:39

ar.suhrud bokare says:

great creation.

# October 15, 2010 at 08:48

ASphere says:

poor interior space

# October 15, 2010 at 09:29

CAVP says:

Love the whole concept and simplicity of the form… but the reflecting material is awful. Looks like Frank Gehry/NASA gone country.

# October 15, 2010 at 16:44

brianMCKINNEY says:

Frank Gehry gone country… hilarious and true

# October 15, 2010 at 17:37

DJB says:

Hhhhmmmm……..check this out

http://www.dailytonic.com/casa-no-geres-by-correia-ragazzi-arquitectos-pt/

Have to say prefer the barn

# October 19, 2010 at 04:34

Agree. So much more contextual. Even the simple seating on a lower contour makes the swing trick look flimsy.

# November 1, 2010 at 20:52

Leonardo Ximenes says:

I like it a lot. It reminds me of a Rothko canvas, maybe because of its shinining horizontality dividing green and blue. And the cantilever is soothing and impressive at the same time. The only thing i wouldn’t do is clad the internal trusses with wood. It’d be a nice contrast to leave the metal stand out against the walls.

# October 19, 2010 at 10:23

mark soundr says: