Loo II (biotoop)

The innovation was once hidden. The house looks like many others; no outspoken architectural quality. But beneath the surface, something remarkable has quietly been there for over 50 years: a full frame of in-situ poured concrete and prefab wall systems. Now there’s a change of guard. A younger generation takes over. We do it for the garden. So much so, that the house is allowed to shrink to give the garden more space. The building recedes, but not without leaving traces.

Rather than being demolished, the house is dismantled, gently, piece by piece. What doesn’t need to go remains in place, like a concrete relic. Rooms become outdoor rooms. Green rooms. Spaces no longer ruled by people but shared, gladly, with birds and insects, with rain and rotting leaves. What must be removed is salvaged where possible, reused here or elsewhere. The new floor plan builds on what’s already there. It turns out you don’t need much to do a lot.

Upstairs, the structure demands more changes. But that’s all right; here, wood helps us build a new roof.
Smaller, but taller. Compact, and broken into scales. Scales like those of an ancient animal, something that once grazed the plains with its jagged back. The scales turn green. Moss settles in. The creature begins to disappear into its surroundings. The house takes on a new identity. It quite literally weaves itself into the landscape. It is overgrown, overtaken, reclaimed by flora and fauna. Like a sunken ship or a temple consumed by vines, it becomes a biotope.