The Farm Project

This week something very exciting happend. With the dismantle of a roof my first real architectural project started. My parents are the instigators of this happy event. They decided a year ago to move to a farm/ruin which was in desperate need of a total makeover and asked me to make the design. They were my first clients and certainly not the easiest ones. With extensive experience in the field of renovations they often asked critical questions. But on one certain theme they did not asked critical questions, and just believed everting I said: the theme of sustainability. 

During the design process I was following the course ‘Delft Lectures on Sustainability’, which gave me a lot of information to discuss with my parents. I designed a conservatory, fixed to the old structure, in which hot air could be used for the heating of the house, we discussed the possibility of a heat pump to heat the house and we discussed where to place the solar panels in order to generate energy. The most frequent answer from my parents was: that's too expensive, with our age we will never earn this back financially. My most frequent answer on this was: but think about your children, we will inherit the house and will have so much fun of the sustainable decision you make now! Of course this was a little joke, but it did make them realize that they should think not only about their period in the house, but also about other generations occupying this place. 

The result of this discussing is that I finally persuaded them to install solar panels on the roof and create all infrastructure needed for connection to a heat pump. Installing this pump for only the farm will not be profitable at the moment, so when more people in the surrounding want to be connected to a heat pump it can always be built later. Finally my father really started to like this going green experience. He decided all by himself to buy a hybrid car! Although we of course never know if this car is really sustainable…