living and working at Beaulieu
Conversion of the protected site ‘Goed te Beaulieu’ into a care farm in Waregem
‘Goed te Beaulieu’ has everything to make social and spatial ideals come alive. It is a place where all residents and their caretakers enjoy living, working and staying, while at the same time showing visitors how we want to live together, with each other, with our history, with our cultural landscape and with nature. The restored and converted existing buildings bring the farmstead back to life. People who are visiting the farmstead for the first time enter a special microcosm and feel it immediately. ‘Goed te Beaulieu’ is a fantastic place where relaxation, recreation, and the experience of landscape and heritage come together.
| location: | Waregem |
| tender: | 2024, open oproep |
| client: | Stad Waregem |
| restoration advisor: | architectenbureau Sabine Okkerse |
| advisor technical installations: | Studieburo George |
| structural engineer: | LIME |
| landscape design: | Roosen Landscape |
Historical view: 'Goed te Beaulieu' in the 19th century, with octagonal rampart (Etienne Ducatteeuw)
From the outside, the farmstead looks like a huddled, inward-facing composition of uniformly shaped roofs. On the inside is a surprisingly open, light and uncluttered protected living, working and recreational environment, with space for connections, meetings, dwelling and manoeuvring. A perfect setting for a re-inhabited farmstead where community spirit and collaboration are central.
The ground plan of the farmstead has been an ideal typology since the Middle Ages. Several buildings, each with its own character and function, arranged in a circle, around a clear, all-sided protected centre. The configuration radiates togetherness, safety and intimacy.
Overview entire site. The various buildings mimic a community of individual characters with a clear division of roles, tailored to each person's talents, abilities and interests. Their common goal: caring for each other and the production of food. The different steps of these processes are clear and perceptible. In the redevelopment, the roles of the different buildings and different steps of the production process are preserved and visible as much as possible.
The redevelopment of the buildings closely follows the character of the existing architecture, in which the original functions of the various buildings are leading. By carefully aligning the new use with the original intentions and characteristics of the existing spaces, the proportions of most spaces, the special atmosphere and many recognisable elements can be preserved.
The former residential house on the north side (now ‘carriage house’ with stables) will be reused as the home for a group of residents. The existing family house will also be given a ‘homely’ function, as a place for rest, socialising and relaxation during the day.
Inside and outside, the barn and former cowshed will retain their utilitarian character and their large sliding gates. The barn, with its multipurpose use, remains a versatile work building. The cowshed largely retains its character and will be used as a large work kitchen and place for day care. The existing bakehouse will be restored and made functional again.
The restoration is approached as gently as possible. In doing so, various scars, layers of time and the grown hierarchies of the historical ensemble will be preserved and readable. The façades and roofs facing the inner courtyard will remain largely unchanged.
The facades facing the landscape are visible to visitors only from a distance. Here, necessary adjustments to the outer shell of the buildings in function of the redevelopment are possible.
The new use of the site lends itself perfectly to making the character of the old farmstead readable again. As before, the future is about slow farming, lots of handicrafts, small-scale production and local crops. Thanks to the appropriate repurposing and the ambitions of the new users, the original landscape figure of an all-round enclosed farmstead and orchard can be restored.
Along the contours of the damped moats, a flower strip will be sown in with a border of edible hedges with berries and nuts. This will create a uniform landscape image that embraces the old farmstead, where past and future coexist.
For the positioning of the technical rooms, we make use of partly existing, partly renewed annexes that are subordinate to the main buildings due to their shape and architectural detailing and were once added for purely practical reasons. The annexes tell an important story about the pragmatism with which necessary extensions that served the other buildings were handled in the past.
We see them as the ‘outboard engines’ for the historic buildings, ensuring that new technical installation can be accommodated and function efficiently, without affecting the historic character of the buildings themselves.
The design proposal is based on the strength and integrity of the existing buildings. They therefore form the core of the redevelopment and at the same time the ‘unique selling point’ for the project's touristic ambitions. At the same time, the farmstead is highly vulnerable as a historical ensemble and can be fundamentally affected in its value even through limited modifications.
As designers, we saw it as our mission to reconcile the needs of the buildings and those of the users. That this would be possible entirely without visible extensions was a surprise to both ourselves and the jury. Unfortunately, it did not fit in with the expectations of the client who will ultimately realise a plan with greater architectural impact.
