Barn Reuse
On circular materials and processes
Iago Fanhoni Anversac - Marina D'Intinosante - Ryo Miyaji-Blanka Valcsicsák - Helia Shahmohammadkhani - Iago Fanhoni Anversac - Marina D'Intinosante - Ryo Miyaji-Blanka Valcsicsák - Helia Shahmohammadkhani - Iago Fanhoni Anversac - Marina D'Intinosante - Ryo Miyaji-Blanka Valcsicsák - Helia Shahmohammadkhani - Iago Fanhoni Anversac - Marina D'Intinosante - Ryo Miyaji-Blanka Valcsicsák - Helia Shahmohammadkhani
Barn Reuse
In the village of Saint-Martin-Choquel, near Desvres in northern France, stands a barn next to the house of Paul and Denise, a couple who have made this place one of their homes. Likely dating from the 18th or 19th century, the barn was built with an oak and elm timber frame infilled with wattle and daub, a regional mix of earth, clay, and straw. During a later restoration, the wattle and daub was removed and replaced with larch cladding. Paul has kept fragments of the original infill and timber structure stored within the barn, making it one of the few remaining examples where early materials and construction methods remain visible.
On site pictures
Working as part of the Barn Reuse group, we treated the barn as a material resource. We observed, measured, and catalogued existing elements, studying their quantity, dimensions, condition, and location within the barn. Our research focused on timber from the frame, roof structure, and cladding, masonry from the plinth and roof tiles, and clay sourced from the site’s soil. We reused elements at full scale where possible and transformed others to produce samples, revealing the barn’s material palette through aggregates, colours, and textures in the form of terrazzo and compressed earth blocks. We also assessed the condition of the timber and tested treatments using turpentine and linseed oil.This research supports all the students’ design proposals, offers Paul a clearer understanding of the materials present on site, and provides a foundation for future material investigations of the barn.
Samples
