These openings articulate spaces and activities while offering a high degree of environmental comfort and responsiveness in all seasons.
Inside, a long spatial corridor unites all parts of the house with the spatial center, formed by a large space between the modules, and the yellow entrance porch.
Oblong Farm by Scalar Architecture. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal.
Project description by Scalar Architecture
This modular 2200 sf residential farm structure for an extended family is located on the hills of Mill Brook Valley in the lower Berkshires mountains. Testing the allowable limits of off-site construction for transportation and erection, we devised two main 15 x 30 feet (approx. 5 x 10 mts) engineered and standard wooden modules arranged side by side with a third module hinged by a spatial yellow void.
The disposition of modules corresponds to a contextual and environmental analysis that privies a mostly in a East / West longitudinal orientation whilst accommodating the southern breezes and blocking the northern and northeastern winter winds from the entrance at a yellow void / porch. In its off-site fabrication, its orientation on the terrain, and its horizontal proportion, the structure achieves an environmental and contextual responsiveness that further grounds it on the farm terrain. As an alternative to the manufactured home product, we propose a horizontal rather than vertical structure with repetitive openings on both orientations.
The non-residential repetitive cadence of these openings and the large yellow porch address the other farm structures in the immediate vicinity. They articulate a series of interior and exterior activities and relationships; and, they afford a high degree of environmental comfort and responsiveness in all seasons. In all, these operations are produced with minimal means distilling essential traits of nearby farms.
On the interior, again testing the allowable off-site structure, the modular box is split open by a large space without a flat ceiling for a distance of 22' (7 mts) as the roof trusses expand a void between the modules. This space becomes the extended family's hub. The layout also distills the essential components and their connections: A long spatial corridor links all portions of the house to the spatial hub and the yellow entry porch.
