Hudson River Compound Barn
Brief: To design a new main residence, while assembling, restoring, and moving several historical structures to create a campus-like community of agrarian buildings that pays homage to the Hudson River School of painting, embracing and improving the character of the upstate New York landscape.
Solution: Inspired by the great camps of the Adirondacks, the new and old structures have separate functions so that no structure is of too large a scale. The buildings become a village or assemblage that creates a sense of community. In the main residential building (in collaboration with architect Peter Talbott) circulation spaces are lined in natural quarter sewn oak, and public spaces have painted bead board wood coffered ceilings. Archaeology of the siteÍs past is incorporated into elements of the new constructionbeams from the site become shelves and ledges in the kitchen. A Shaker-like sensibility is brought into the woodworking and architecture while an open plan is maintained. The house has the ability to turn in on itself while still integrating with site. A renovated barn, which is perched over a manmade waterfall, was designed as media space/guest house with interior sliding barn doors that are used for hanging art and dividing spaces. The timbers are original, and the new fireplace shares a vocabulary with the siteÍs retaining walls and waterfall. Every structure is integrated with the landscape and appropriate for a working farm with pastures of cattle and horses.
