Tweeperenboom
Three volumes were added to the 19th-century house in the village of Winksele. A prismatic insert on the garden side is private (kitchen, bedrooms, storage room). An incision in the old roof and an addition to the side facade are specific interventions that introduce a new programme, the workplaces of the cooperative Tweeperenboom (supervisor of organisations and people in transition and breakthrough projects). The old bedrooms and attic will be linked to a new stairwell. The old garage becomes an entrance and an open space that merges into the public space during public activities. The cooperative works in its own spaces, but also makes regular use of the church on the other side or an old forge with a wild garden at the back.
The Matrix Method, a methodology developed by Thierry Lagrange (design driven research doctoral project), was used to define the cooperative's construction and functioning programme. This methodology (a creative game with all those involved) generated a series of insights about the landscape, the dwelling, the place of man, the layering of the place. This resulted in a content-based carrier: (1) attention for special views of the church, square and landscape on the other side, (2) interactions of the work spaces with a connecting volume, (3) interior becomes exterior on the ground floor and (4) anticipating the layered context of the old volume.
The three volumes dialog with the existing context. But they are also rhythmed by the storm pans that form spotted surfaces. Structure and surfaces are echoes of rural typologies. The interior of the wooden interventions is warm and welcoming. Connecting is an essential drive of the cooperative and the design office.
