Design snapshot: Seeing red

Despite what many think, our New England forebears were not afraid of color. Many eighteenth century homes sported bold, single-color exteriors like this one. It works here because the profile and thickness of the siding, trim, windows, and doors are pronounced and varied. Each element casts a distinct and legible shadow, which builds relief into the elevations, without relying on change in color to highlight the different components. A rich, earthy, red such as this contrasts a winter-white and summer-green landscape, while calling attention to itself and the depth of its surfaces. This is no shrinking violet. It’s probably safe to assume the owners aren’t either. A single color applied to a textured exterior can make a striking statement (especially when coupled with a dramatic tree shadow).

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Design snapshot: Snow barn

Here’s another find from a weekend of barn chasing. This one has a lot to recommend it: three openings outfitted with sliding doors, a lean-to which elongates the barn footprint, board and batten siding, and a centered, gable dormer, faced with shingles.

Sliding doors are a great barn legacy. Unlike swinging doors, they don’t require a lot of clearance immediately inside or outside the opening in order to operate, and they don’t get in the way when they’re open. Such doors have inspired me to design oversized sliding doors for projects like the Manchester Garage/Garden Room. I wrote about adapting these types of doors to residential uses in a Fine Homebuilding Drawing Board column too.

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Design Snapshot: Tobacco barn revisited

Here are some more Connecticut tobacco barns. You may remember, from my previous post, that such barns were constructed to store and dry cigar leaf tobacco. This one uniquely combines both horizontal and vertical, hinged, ventilating boards. The black, corrugated metal gable roof and weathered red planking, against the snowy landscape, form a New England hallmark.

 

The design of the Community Rowing, Inc. Harry Parker Boathouse in Brighton by Anmahian Winton Architects took its inspiration from these types of barns. The Boathouse’s exterior planking is mechanized to open in order to dry rowing shells within. It’s a beautiful idea. A similar concept could be adapted to part of a residential breezeway or porch in which planking is manually opened for light and ventilation, but closed during inclement weather. Reinterpreting vernacular work buildings for different uses today creatively roots our present in our past. The result can be a uniquely evolved New England typology.

 

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Design snapshot: Shingle wall and trim

Click on this photo to see it in the note cards/prints gallery.The white-cedar-shingle wall cladding and trim, shown here, are New England mainstays. Thanks to careful planning, the shingle courses, which probably have approximately 5-inch exposure, align with the top of the window-head trim and the top of the window sill. The rake trim, which follows the roof slope on the gable end wall, is “clipped,” meaning the overhang is minimal. This is a common regional detail, harking back to early Capes. Here, the rake is made of a likely, nominal 8-inch board, with an overlapping crown molding, which adds tight shadow lines. The bead-board shutter is another Yankee touch. Together, these classic New England elements define a spare, but functional, and visually pleasing exterior treatment.

Read more about rake trim here, here, and here.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Design snapshot: Connected-building vernacular

This in-town collection of connected buildings in Maine brings to mind the connected farm buildings Thomas Hubka wrote about in Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn. If you’re not familiar with his book, it’s definitely worth reading in order to better appreciate how this typology was adopted by New England farmers and why.

Here the “big house” is a modest 1 ½ story Greek Revival with a secondary “little house” set back, yet parallel to it. The “back house” forms an ell, connecting the front living spaces with the barn. It’s possible that the front Greek Revival originally stood separate from the barn and that the other wings were added over time, as the owners required more living and working space. Often the “little house” was constructed to contain the kitchen, freeing up a room in the “big house” for another use. The “back house” was generally a transitional work space, containing a shop, wash room, wood shed, or storage space – like a working mud room.

 

Today, assembling a collection of building elements, as in this vernacular example, can make sense when designing new homes too. Such assemblages allow multiple exposures to natural light which can travel deep within each component. They distribute the building’s volume, so it doesn’t appear overly large or monolithic, and they communicate a hierarchy of space and purpose. Connected buildings can also shape a dynamic outdoor space.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast