Barn Living by Bureau Fraai – Home Stratosphere

Design: Bureau Fraai
Architects: Rikjan Scholten, Daniel Aw
Location: Aalten, Gelderland, The Netherlands
Client: Private
Project year: 2015
Material extension: Black pre-weathered titanium zinc
Floor area extension m2: 42m2
Floor area total m2: 195m2
Photographer: Wim Hanenberg

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This is a close look at the back of the house with a alrge grass lawn that pairs well with its red brick structure and modern structure.

This is a close look at the back of the house with its black modern structure that has a large glass wall.

This is a side of the house showcasing the difference between the two structures of the with one of them made of brick and the other with modern materials.

This is a side view of the structure with only its half that has a black and glass structure while the other half is red brick.

On the side of the modern structure is a row of tall glass windows that bring in an additional natural light.

There is a side door made of glass on the side of this modern structure.

This is a close look at the side of the structure with its bright indoors contrasted by the black exterior walls.

This is a close look at the side of the modern black structure with a red brick walkway just outside the glass windows.

This is a close look at the the black exterior wall material of the modern structure and its glass window.

This is a view of the front of the glass wall with frames of wood on the upper part and black on the lower part.

This is an interior look at the spacious dining room with a white rectangular dining table paired with modern chairs.

This large dining room is topped with a tall cathedral ceiling that has exposed wooden beams.

The tall cathedral white ceiling with exposed wooden beams also have spherical pendant lights.

This is a close look at the far corner of the room with a reading nook by the folding doors.

The white modern rectangular dining table that matches the bright tone of the walls and ceiling brightened by the natural lights.

This is a close look at the long and narrow kitchen with brown wooden cabinetry and drawers paired with bright counters.

On the side of the kitchen is the small round dining table of the breakfast bar.

This is a view of the interior from the other side with a view of the kitchen on the far side topped with skylights.

This is a view of the interiors through the glass windows on the side. There is a gravelled soil right outside as well as a red brick walkway.

This is a look at the house from the side showcasing the large grass lawn as well as the two halves of the house with red brick on one side and black modern on the other.

This is an illustration of the house layout.

This is an illustration of the house's elevation and cross section.

This is a perspective sketch of the house before the addition was made.

This is a perspective sketch of the house after the addition was made.

Bureau Fraai has completely renovated a 50’s farmhouse and extended the existing old barn next to the house with a contemporary extension. With the design of this extension the architects realized a harmonic relation between the existing and the new.

The young family living in this farmhouse in the east of Holland had the wish to completely renovate the out-dated interior while also opening up the house to it’s beautiful surroundings. Bureau Fraai realized this by opening up the whole ground floor plan of the existing house and by adding a spacious extension creating a strong visual connection to the big garden. For the extension the architects decided to extent the current old barn next to the farmhouse. While the existing barn was built from bricks and ceramic roof tiles, the façade and roof of the extension are made of black pre-weathered titanium zinc with hidden aluminum window frames giving it a bold and modern feel.

The contrasting light interior with the wooden scissor frames, on the other hand refers to historical Dutch farm structures. By using this samewooden scissor frame as the window frame for the front windows all borders between the interior and exterior seem to disappear.

By Jon Dykstra · See their LinkedIn.