The Recipe House: A Converted Pigsty for Retirement Living
Swiss architecture studio Madeleine Architectes has transformed an old pigsty into a unique home and office, clad in lime and hemp, for a family in Chavronay. The building, named The Recipe, is situated on a rural site close to the French border, between a farm and a henhouse. It is designed as a place of retirement for the parents of a large family.
Renovating the Pigsty
Madeleine Architectes coated the pigsty’s existing brick shell in a layer of insulating lime and hemp, creating a new skin for the building. The upper level, which directly connects to the adjacent farm via a small wooden bridge, is clad in metal. The studio described the process as “the marriage of the mineral [lime] and the vegetal [hemp], an insulating layer is directly applied to the existing facade, like an ointment caring for a wound”.
The renovation involved a participatory workshop, which brought together the craftsman, the client, and the architect, resulting in a unique and honest coating for the building.
The Recipe’s Interior
The ground floor of The Recipe contains an office, while the first floor has an apartment. The second floor features a communal dining room for both the residents and the surrounding farm. The interiors are defined by pale wooden panelling, which lines the walls and floors. The panels also feature on the upper floor’s ceiling, teamed with exposed wooden trusses. Small pops of bright colour, such as a red built-in wardrobe in the bedroom and brightly coloured lighting cables supporting exposed bulbs in the dining area, contrast the pale wood.
A Family Retreat
The Recipe is designed as a place of retirement for the parents of a large family. “An office occupies the ground floor, while a parental refuge takes over the upper floor, an elevation whose open space is related to two opposite orientations which are equally rich in their context,” said Madeleine Architectes. “The picturesque orchard to the east responds to the twilight of the sun setting over the barn roofs to the west.”
Pigsty Conversions
The Recipe is not the only pigsty conversion featured on Dezeen. Nieby Crofters Cottage by Jan Henrik Jansen and Marshall Blecher, and a Portuguese holiday home by José Almeida have also been transformed from former pigsties.
The Recipe house by Madeleine Architectes is a unique conversion that showcases the beauty of combining natural materials with existing structures. It is a wonderful example of creating a new space while maintaining the integrity of the original building.
- Pigsty conversion
- Swiss architecture
- Sustainable design
- Adaptive reuse
- Eco-friendly renovation
News Source : Jon Astbury
Source Link :Madeleine Architects converts pigsty into The Recipe house in Switzerland/