Rolling seaside hills serve as the backdrop to this barn styled home that was inspired by traditional timber frame barn designs familiar to the surrounding area. This home truly celebrates the simplicity of its form and takes the interior timber structure outward to the exterior.
“The western side of the home was purposely designed to be the primary entry to the house, and you approach that entry by car,” said Michael Schmitt AIA, the Architect on the project. “Our idea was that space could be where the whole design revealed itself, where part of the exterior is pulled back to reveal some of the interior timber structure and express some of the frame from the inside on the outside. It is also where the garage is, so even guests would arrive on that side of the house and come up a few steps into the exposed barn structure and then into the interior.”
“The design idea was to express the barn frame from the interior out to the exterior in that one location of the home, but It also breaks down the monotony of a 100-foot by 30-foot barn,” Michael continued. “The visual actually erodes at that corner and becomes the barn frame, which is what we tried to express throughout the whole project, the beautiful simplicity of the barn’s timber frame.”
Consisting of two bedrooms, an exercise space, and a large open kitchen/living space, the home utilized a king-post white oak frame that was kept as simple and natural as possible, relying on clean lines, modest color choices, and an abundance of natural light to convey the structures design intent which connects the home with its picturesque surroundings.
“On the interior the real idea for the design was to let the barn frame be exposed without cladding on it in any way. It was constructed out of white oak, and the idea was to bring that frame in, raise it, and let it dry, age, and check naturally as oak timber is known to do,” Michael shared. “We almost kept the entire frame visible to keep things simple and natural. We used a floor that had a very weathered wood look, we eliminated base boards and any type of door trim, and the purpose of those choices was to allow the barn frame to be expressed.”
“One of things that made this project special to me was that it was constructed differently than a normal house. A normal house most of the time is 2x6” flat form framing stick built, which is a very fast way of doing construction, then you enclose it,” Michael explained. “What I think was special about this home was it was more like a traditional barn raising from a hundred plus years ago. The frame was designed, constructed, raised, and then enclosed. The actual technique of the construction is the expression of the house, there isn’t anything manipulating the design to make it any different than what it is.”
“I will never forget when the foundation work was ready New Energy Works showed up with their trucks and within a WEEK there was a barn standing on the site! The raising was just a beautiful experience,” Michael concluded. “I still show people those raising day photographs, we always say that this house has a soul to it, and I think it is because of the honesty of the timber frame.”
Project credits:
Architect: Michael Schmitt Architect
Builder: Ben Krupinski Builder
Engineer: Fire Tower Engineered Timber
Enclosure: New Energy Works
Photography: Chris Foster
See our case study: Simplicity of Form | New Energy Works
