Traditional barn raising, the process by which communities come together to assemble a timber frame barn, informed the process of constructing a beautiful new home made of pine near Rhinebeck, New York.
“Much like the traditional community barn-raising events of the past, the entire timber structure of the home was raised as ‘bent’ frames in one day,” says Manhattan-based architecture firm Amalgam Studio of the project.
Tasked with creating a spacious 5,000-square-foot family home with a small environmental footprint on an elevated site in the lush Hudson River Valley, the architects wanted a design that’s thoroughly modern in its feel and functionality without sticking out like a sore thumb in the idyllic rural area.
Their solution was to mimic the shape of the area’s barns with a low, rectangular plan, pine-clad walls and a gabled roof. For warmth, richness and sustainability, Amalgam Studio chose to wrap the entire facade in pine slats infused with bio-based liquid to make it stronger and more insect resistant. They left the wood unpainted and unstained so it will weather over time, just like those barns.
“It was applied as a rain screen to all outside walls and also covers the roofs, using a unique, innovative clip system to the standing seams of roof sheeting – a first in North America,” the architects note.
This roof is punctuated with skylights to give the interiors a light and airy feel. Wide expanses of glass on the longer sides of the home enable sweeping views of the landscape, and some of these windows can be covered with louvers for privacy.
All photos by Oliver Mint
