32: Carriage House

Originally a 19th century carriage house, this Work converts this old frame into a writer’s studio and guest house, which connects to the adjacent barn the Owner, a film director, renovated himself several years prior.

The original mortise and tenon timber framing has been stripped. The shell of the building is composed of reclaimed hemlock, field stone, steel, tin and polycarbonate. Set back from the edges of the interior framework lies a singular volume of white pine, housing two sleeping quarters, dressing room and powder room with a lounge and writer’s studio in the loft above.

Inspired by the county’s surrounding neglected farm buildings, the north wall, faced in clear polycarbonate panels, is further protected with reclaimed hemlock planks randomly spaced as a rain screen across the exterior face. The effect evokes the quality of a barn in ruin with slits of light and silhouettes. The west wall, clad entirely in polycarbonate panels provides a faint view of the exterior while the window above the writer’s desk frames the lake below, evoking in metaphor the director’s view through his camera’s lens.