At the edge of the rural settlement of Halle-Nijman, in the municipality of Doetinchem, a small farmhouse with its accompanying outbuildings has been redeveloped within the framework of the Rood voor Rood regulation, which allows for the realisation of two dwellings on the site.
The proposal combines the partial demolition of former pig stables with their transformation into studio dwellings, alongside a careful reconfiguration of the surrounding landscape.
Although the intervention concerns only a subdivided portion of the original parcel and the buildings located on it, the proposal consciously addresses the site as a whole. In this way, even after subdivision, the transformed outbuildings and the farmhouse continue to present themselves as a single, coherent farmstead.
Following demolition and transformation, two rectangular building volumes remain on the separated plot. The footprint of the removed structures is paved, forming a shared ‘courtyard’ that connects the two volumes. Along the northern edge, a fragment of the former exterior wall is retained and now serves as a garden wall.
The site will be cleared of the existing conifers; in their place, an orchard of standard fruit trees will line the street. Extending from the courtyard, a vegetable garden is introduced. The entire plot is enclosed by a beech hedge, gently defining its boundaries.
The clients themselves will carry out the transformation of the buildings.
Loek Kemming (1951, Velp) co-founded the design studio Vormgeversassociatie in Laag-Keppel in 1974, which has been based since 1999 in the listed farmhouse Het Mulra in Hoog-Keppel. After his departure in 2005, he established Office for Design together with colleague Noudi Spönhoff. In that same year, Kemming and Spönhoff realised a new live-work house in Laag-Keppel, designed by Eric de Leeuw / Daad Architects. The project received first prize in the BNA Building of the Year awards (Region East) in 2005 and was also nominated for the Achterhoek Architecture Prize in 2006.
Riki Mijling (1954, Nijmegen) studied at the Academy in ’s-Hertogenbosch. As a sculptor, she has developed a diverse body of work. Her sculptures in stone, bronze, and iron form part of numerous public and private collections in the Netherlands and abroad, and her work is regularly exhibited in Dutch and German galleries.
* this text is based on a text written by Noudi Spönhoff
