projects | Viabizzuno progettiamo la luce

in the heart of belgium, a house, an abode, a peaceful and welcoming place that inserts itself perfectly in the rural surroundings, with a contemporary and informal character. a house made of several nucleus: a main building close to the barns of the old farm that have been recovered as well. the only restriction: to build the new house inside the sedimentary layout of the incomplete old house. the concept of the new house is a return to the simple shape of a rural building (a long extended volume, right-angle built respect to the roads, with a 45° slope tympanum roof). the inspiration comes from the region farms, where the house is built between the farmyard and the fields all around, whose structure bodies to one side surrounds the small central coutyard (with the midday sun) and on the other opens the view on large fields. the reference to the simple icons of traditional buildings is reinforced by a contemporary design: the study of materials, the attention for essential details, the research around shape without any decoration. the facades of these buildings sums this concept up: the typical gutters and chimneys become invisible in abstract, the doors thresholds are not made of traditional stone and the wood façade, that refers to the old barns, extends up top the roof. after a careful listening of the client’s needs, van duysen architects decides not to renew the 2 old barns but to build two new volumes ‘barn-shaped’. based on the same shape of the main building, so to strenghten further the idea of a single proejct. the abstract shape, the three volumes at a first sight not seem to be well-established in the rural area, but analizing the structure and the extent of the project and entering the courtyard along a covered path one feels completely absorbed into tradition and in the volumes of the immediate proximity. the house is designed following all the principles of the passive house. its duration over time has been obtained thaks to the collaboration with denc, architecture studio specialized in sustainable construction. the garden project is restricted to contemplation of solitary trees and the use of brushed floor, like the farms typical ones. the concrete floor of the house is the same, but with a sandblasted finish as it suits well with the atmosphere and giving a visive continuity between domestic horizons and rural ones. as the house has been designed like ‘passive house’, low-consumption lamps have been chosen. in this case is really important to use only leds with colour temperature 2700/3000K and with Ra95 for an ambient light and fluo lamps to obtain a more architectural light result. they chose to design the light for the lighting and not the light for the shape; the effect had to be a non-design objects: the shape and material are completely integrated without being phisically visible and become part of the architecture and not a tool untied from it. the displei light fitting is completely integrated only where needed: in the areas where false ceilings didn’t allow this, beams have been created to act like carriers for the displei. these beam have been used to bring indirect light to the living room and to the bathroom and to illuminate better the mirror. the hanging beam has been built with hidden supports and mounted in order to become completely floating, that is separated from architecture. all the other required lighting tools have been created to be not present, but to be positioned in a functional area, fulfilling completely the need of a light integrated with architecture. 13x8 profile into wardrobe, c2 indirect light into walls (bedroom) and c2 IP68 positioned inside 094 slots, for a light both direct and indirect. in the corridor, along the longitudinal axis of the house, that marks the glazed path alonside the garden, they chose to use more light fitting than necessary so they could be used like light for the outdoor ambient. the whole house glitters like a light source and spread the light also to the garden so to use a minimum number of outdoor light fittings disperded in the green. the reflection of led m44 on wooden walls radiates a warm light up to the terrace. also in the barn, close to the house, the led bacchetta magica has been integrated in the building, to catch a bit of warm light reflected by the wooden façade. they didn’t choose visible light fittings. entering the private ground, only a few m44 have been used to identify the the ground boundaries. the walkway is illuminated by the road lights and to find a parking one has to orient with the car lights. once cars are stopped, artificial light switches off and only the natural atmosphere one is still alive. the scenary in the darkness is in contradiction with the outdoor corridor (walking through the first building) that leads the visitor to the main building. in the corridor there are the black displei light fittings mounted from the bottom of the grooves in order to become black holes (of the shadow in matter). passed the corridor, one is guided by the lights dedicated to the trees: only two light points, one to illuminate the trunk and one for the crown, to emphasize the natural shapes. no more light is needed thanks to the use of the displei in the corridor. to touch the rural ambient and the green scenery surrounding the house, to move from a building to another, there are two m3 (with internal louvre), recessed into ground so that from inside the house o moving to the courtyard, one cannot see the light fitting. what one can perceive is light that reflects from the wooden facades, like it happens in full moon nights.