In the small municipality of Walhain, there was a modest little barn dating from the mid-19th century, which in 2020 was used as a communal storage space. Today, following the intervention of the L&A office, the barn is still there, its hall volume and disparate masonry almost unchanged; only two additional openings and the landscaping of its surroundings indicate its recent renovation. The six-hour barn is one of those projects that must be looked at carefully to appreciate all its subtlety.

When observing the barn from the outside, there is no doubt that the architects’ first decision was to preserve the typological characteristics of this rural building. To achieve this, the project installs new load-bearing masonry inside the existing envelope, doubling the original walls, like a Russian doll. This second structure, built on new foundations, supports the floor and roof structure while allowing the addition of thermal insulation on the inside.