Villa in Switzerland. The Wooden Barn reworked combining history and innovation

The project follows the predominant features of the rural site where it is located, where the solitary volumes of conglomerates provide space and shelter for daily activities

By constructing a house and using the type of barn, a further gravitational mass has been added to the interaction of the volumes between the trees. The garden is the place of identity, where the renovated Pressoir (press office) and the new Grange (barn) form an interstitial courtyard in the undisturbed landscape. The chestnuts will fall near a new roof, built entirely of nanofilm coated solar cells that provide energy for new and renovated homes

The layout of each house is structured around a spacious room that serves as a social center for people living in both houses. Thus, the two houses can be inhabited as a commonplace. Similarly, each house can be individually occupied, as both Grange and Pressoir are suitable to be used as work and living environments with a floor that plays on interstitial thresholds of voids, doors, curtains and sliding panels that gradually negotiate between public and private

In their construction principles, the houses are based on a palette of basic materials, which accentuates their similarities and genetic differences. The residence has been completely renovated maintaining the original structure, walls and carpentry. Now on display and with visible signs of ageing, these structural features tell the story of the building. The new openings follow the proportions of the existing ones, which are literally drawn around the facades

The exoskeleton of the Grange embodies a reverberation of the truss of the exposed roof of the Pressoir. Because of the structural consequence, the logical order is reversed and the primary exposed steel is supplemented by a secondary wooden structure. Architect Dieter Dietz creates these houses by creating a framework for living. Like a canvas drawn in the space that awaits life to complete itself. The users will further determine the visual and spatial organization

From the inside, the two buildings are oriented towards the landscape, opening up the view of the vineyards and the surrounding orchard. Over time, they will be completely obscured by the trees and plants and flowers that grow between the roofs and reflect the flourishing fusion between housing development and nature