Barns Ennobled
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Tucked away in a corner of Norfolk County, England, this pair of barns—one new, one renovated—sit low in the vast countryside.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
The large windows are set back behind the brick facade allowing the residents to get an additional glimpse of the depth and detail of the original bricks.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Cabinet Post
By reversing his original OSB cabinet design, which opens onto the kitchen, Turner was able to build vast storage areas for food and crockery. You may have to nip around back to find the Cheerios, but all you see from the rest of the space is a wall of OSB.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
A Question of Truss
The beautiful latticework of metal and wood is over 150 years old and proved costly to strengthen after the damage done by a long-forgotten bash from some farm machinery. Add in the cost of the walls that had to be rebuilt, having the purlins repaired, and tripling the thickness of the wooden trusses, and by the time the scaffolding was down, the pair had laid out $190,000.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Getting Oriented
Made from pressed tree chippings and resin, oriented strand board is strong and durable and makes a bold design statement. The sheer level of agricultural chic at the Ochre Barn is probably a bit much for most interiors, but the material did come cheap: Turner bought eight-by-four-foot panels of OSB for as little as $24 apiece.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Floor Play
Turner reclaimed most of the timber used for the flooring as he renovated buildings in London. He thought his stockpile was big enough for the Ochre Barn, but the scale of the place defeated him. The solution, surprisingly, was eBay, turning up an old mill’s worth of boards.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Mobile Nap
Turner made much of the barn’s furniture from OSB, but the mobile daybed on wheels is a standout piece and allows the user to catch the sun or shade as the mood strikes.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Give It a Ply
Construction-site offcuts comprise the 20-seat table, which Turner made from a birch-core black phenolic-faced plywood, a waterproof material more commonly used to form concrete. The film-coated ply from UK supplier James Latham comes cheap, making it ideal for this kind of experimentation.
Cubicle Life
The main public space of Ochre Barn is broken up by a full-height OSB pod, which contains a bathroom and a utility room with a view. Up top is the crow’s nest, where Turner can survey his creation and answer any stray emails. Though the bench table, daybed, and outdoor spaces afford plenty of room for the couple to work away from the hubbub of weekend guests, the top of the pod offers dedicated office space.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
"It only cost about $48,000 to build, which was incredibly cheap," says Turner of the Stealth Barn. "We got the Timber Frame Company to supply the shell, then we clad it and fitted out the interior and windows ourselves. The idea was to take the archetypal black tar-painted agricultural building and make an almost childlike icon of that."
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Long and low, the Ochre Barn began its life as a threshing barn in the 1850s.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
For a bit of elevation in the overwhelmingly horizontal compound, step onto the deck of the Stealth Barn. A strip of mowed grass delineates a path between the two structures; otherwise the grasses grow wild.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
A wire side chair by Harry Bertoia for Knoll sits outside the bathroom in the Stealth Barn.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
A picnic table in a matching hue to the Stealth Barn rests between the two structures.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
At a fraction of the size of Ochre Barn, Stealth Barn is just one clear shot down the hall from the kitchen to the bedroom. OSB is an even stronger part of the interior here evoking bales of hay.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
A row of Penguin Classics in the window casts an orange glow on the Stealth Barn's small OSB-clad living room outfitted with more custom furniture from Turner.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
The two structures are in constant dialogue. Not only are their forms in sympathy, but as they're set at right angles to one another, they are rarely out of view.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Carl Turner and Mary Martin pose on the porch of the Stealth Barn, a multipurpose structure that plays as a guest cottage, office space, and escape from whatever may be cooking at Ochre Barn.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist -
Hard to imagine a more appealing (or friendly) guest room than this one in Ochre Barn.
Photo by: Christoffer Rudquist
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