Oblong Farm
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.
Credits:
Architecture: Scalar Architecture PC Team – Julio Salcedo, Yutong Li, Elda Hernandez, Tomas Rodriguez Rivero
Interior Design: Scalar Architecture and Fawn Galli Interiors
Contractor: Segalla Construction
Modular Builder: Westchester Homes
Windows: Andersen
Siding: Painted Fiber Cement Boards
Area: 1800 sf Interior, 400 sf Exterior
Location: Mill Brook Valley, CT, US
Year of Completion:: 2022
Photography: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)
Arquitectos: Scalar Architecture
www.scalararchitecture.com
info@scalararchitecture.com
Julio Salcedo – principal,
Murilo Machado Candido – Associate
(646) 342 2244
180 Varick Street, Suite 1514
New York, NY 10014
scalar Architecture is an award winning international design firm based in New York City. As the term indicates, scalar Architecture operates at a variety of scales collaborating with allied key experts. The fruits of these collaborations are all embracing projects that garner accolades for their transformative solutions, such as the International First Prize for the development of Hamar, Norway, and the Lasso House, which won the Architectural League Young Architect’s Award. In all its ventures, scalar Architecture provides an expansive deployment of architecture and its registers of program, geometry, context, aesthetics and form.
scalar’s residential experience includes dwellings and housing in Spain, Maine, and New York as well as large scale sustainable developments in Guatemala and Costa Rica. With expertise in hospitality and commercial projects, scalar’s work also includes hotels in Nicaragua and Hounduras, and US restaurants Recess and Flurt. Institutional projects include commissioned designs for the Woodstock Association Museum, the offices of the Dean at Cornell School’s of Architecture and an ongoing 100,000 sf medical building in New York.
scalar Architecture collaborates with multiple international partners, including Regional, a joint venture developing hotels in Central America. Urban and landscape collaborations include the re-development of Hamar, and chosen entries for Build a Better Burb and Elemental Chile, as well as a large cross-programmed sustainable park in Madrid, Spain.
scalar Architecture’s Principal is Julio Salcedo, Licensed Arch. US / EU, LEEP AP. Born in Madrid, Salcedo holds a B.A. in architecture and sculpture from Rice University, and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, Cornell University, and currently at City College as an Associate Professor. In addition to the book Generic Specific Continuum, Salcedo has written numerous articles about the work of scalar Architecture.
Prior to launching his own office, Julio Salcedo worked for Pritzker prize winner Rafael Moneo. He also worked at SOM in New York as Senior Designer for the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, and for Rick Cook of COOKFOX. He has been a juror for international and national competitions, including AIA awards and the Kay e Sante nan Ayiti Housing Competition in Haiti.
The work of scalar Architecture has been exhibited at the Farnsworth Museum, and has been widely published in both the US (Architectural Record, The Architect’s Newspaper, Interior Design, Princeton Architectural Press, Breathe, House Beautiful) and abroad in Canada, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Thailand, Japan, and China.
