Clear Creek 900×200
ISSUE 18

The Barn, Reimagined

SkB Architecture’s stunning grand orchard barn with stunning views to Dry Lake and the Cascade Mountain Range

Design

This grand orchard barn, inspired by client sketches, is a vacation retreat, entertainment facility, and working barn with stunning views to Dry Lake and the Cascade Mountain Range. 

The building is distinguished by its hybrid roof form, based on traditional gambrel barn shapes yet with added elements including dormers and gull wings. Large dormers increase light into upstairs living areas and provide ample space for guest rooms. Large, sliding carriage doors open both ends of the building up to take advantage of the views and bring the outside in. Exterior of the barn is clad with black-stained wood siding, uniquely applied with steel wool and vinegar, which will soften over time and blend the building into the adjacent landscape. 

“We suggested nixing the red barn for something more sympathetic to the landscape”, says designer Kyle Gaffney. “We showed them some dark barns which made it more a part of the orchard rather than an object alongside it”.

The Barn, Reimagined
The Barn, Reimagined
The Barn, Reimagined
The Barn, Reimagined
The Barn, Reimagined
The Barn, Reimagined

The carriage doors, both at the main level and “loft” level, are stained with a transparent tone and provide a contrast. Inside, the main floor is essentially one large open space, suitable for parties or for storing vehicles from the owner’s classic car collection. A contemporary open kitchen, complete with a custom-designed pizza oven, is a favorite gathering spot for family and guests.

A three-story steel staircase featuring wood treads unites the three floors and vintage apple crate panels clad the solid wall of the stairway. Overhead, twenty-four exposed wood trusses span the interior and are supported by powder-coated steel brackets. The upper floor, or loft area, provides a living area which wraps the perimeter of the building in a mezzanine-fashion, leaving the center open to the ground floor below. 

Peering over the steel railing reveals a concrete and steel emblem that is inset into the floor below, which is the hallmark for the property and is repeated in Dutch-barn-sign fashion on the outside of the building. The basement level wine cellar is highlighted by the use of split, sanded cobblestones for flooring, and wood pulled from the bottom of a nearby lake—was milled and turned into the sliding barn doors in the wine cellar. This home brings both nostalgia and modern living to the barn.

 
The Barn, Reimagined
The Barn, Reimagined

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