An old wood shed is given a new lease of life as a family home

Once the maintenance hub for the Beemster windmills, this former carpenter’s shed has been disused for about a century and its gradual decay was causing it to collapse. The desire to restore the shed was focused on preserving and recreating what was already there. However, the use of the wooden beams in the existing building inspired us to create the extension with a reverse approach.

We carefully restored this listed building, which dates back to 1800, and technically updated it to contemporary standards of comfort. Those original joists, derived from windmill sails, provide stability for the wooden structure and, together with wooden cladding, create the characteristic single-space interior that we wanted to preserve. The new living area in this old structure now constitutes the communal living space for the family, along with their two dogs. Furthermore, the new extension gives each family member generous space for themselves. In the new extension we turned the wooden main structure inside out. Doing all this gave us the flexibility to include floor-to-ceiling windows, offering clear views of the UNESCO-protected polder landscape outside.