“I hope you’re not afraid of heights!” José jokes as she enters the living room. Here, too, elements of the building’s former identity are visible. The walls are left bare, exposing the rough concrete so distinct of abandoned industrial sites. Chains that used to tackle things up and down the silo hang from the ceiling. In one corner, a purple bouquet of lupine provides a splash of color; another reminder of the building’s past. “The silo held many different kinds of goods, including lupine,” José explains. A framed, weathered document on the wall lists even more, anything from soy beans to grain and corn. “It was important to us to preserve the building’s identity as a former silo as much as possible,” she adds, with Anjo chiming in that the old elements were combined with modern technology to make it a relaxing, energy-efficient, and functional home. “And I think we were pretty successful in doing so.”

Anjo and José’s silo adventure started about fifteen years ago. It was Open Monuments Day in Deventer, and Anjo had volunteered as a doorman at the silo. “I got to sit up here all day. And that’s when the thought came to me: how great would it be to live here?” Of course, going from ‘I can see myself living in this old abandoned silo’ to actually realizing that ambition took time. Years went by without much progress. Any other sane person might have given up and moved on, but Anjo and José just kept going. “We decided to take on this project because we have a passion for industrial heritage. Of course, we knew there were going to be challenges that might make things difficult, or even ruin the entire project. But we always had an emergency plan B: we could just place a camper on the roof and live there!” Anjo jokes, adding that preserving this building, a Deventer icon since 1961, was a big part of the motivation as well. “The Grijze Silo defines the look of this city, it holds a prominent position in the skyline. It’s one of the first buildings you see when you drive on the highway west towards Deventer. It’s hard to determine what it means to the city, but it’s also about the value you assign to it yourself. For us, it’s a home, a safe haven.”