BKRK BAKERY

Renovation of a heritage barn into a sourdough bakery

For the project ‘BKRK Bokrijk Brandmerkt’, multiple curators worked around the theme of craftsmanship. For the craft ‘BREAD’, star chef Kobe Desramaults and his team open a ‘Superette’ in the Barn of Meeuwen. This is an artisanal bakery which shows the whole process from field to bread - and beyond.

Here, BC architects & studies, revive traditional construction techniques, and combines these with contemporary design. The barn was dismantled: the old thatched roof and wattle-and-daub wall infills were removed. The remaining oak posts and beams were numbered and subsequently dismantled and stocked on site. Foundations were adapted, and the oak structural elements were assembled back into their original position.

Local and natural materials were used where possible. A new thatched roof from reeds on top of a poplar planking was installed. Wall infills in between oak posts and beams consist of hempcrete externally rendered with lime plasters. Inside, most finishings were done with earth, such as earthen finishing plasters, a rammed earth counter and a rammed earth floor. All clays, sands and gravels for earth construction techniques were sourced from the nearby valley of the river Maas. New interior volumes were constructed out of hempcrete for extra insulation, to accommodate a large fridge and a heated office space. The hempcrete volumes and the rammed earth counter define work and public spaces within the barn. Finally, a chimney masonry structure to accommodate bread ovens was added to the external volume of the barn. This chimney was handmade of bricks which were fired from local Maas clay.