The Floating Farmhouse’s semitransparent addition has a roofline that matches the pitch of the original 1820s farmhouse. A porch, tucked under the side eaves, is cantilevered over a stream that runs through the property. Ikea loungers are illuminated from the interior by commercial gymnasium lights repurposed as pendant lamps.
Tom Givone's current weekend abode, nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, is—so far—his capstone project, a synthesis of personal taste, material experimentation, and historically sensitive restoration: a living laboratory for how to bring the vernacular past into the present.
“When you’re working on something inexpensive and then decide you don’t like it, fine. You’re not tearing down millions of kroners worth of work.” —Mette Lyng Hansen
Rent a Belgian Farm: Because who wouldn’t want to vacation in this lovely place? The Heerlijkheid van Marrem farm is available to rent in Wevelgem, East Flanders. From Remodelista.
"Like the old farmhouses and barns of the Champlain Valley, the Foote Farm House has a clearly ordered wood frame on a sturdy foundation, an exterior skin made of local materials, an economy of form with tried-and-true proportions, a central fire place, and a common-sense relationship to the sun and the weather." - Architect John McLeod
"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."
BLAIR NICHE PROJECT
At just $167 per square foot, this high-design, low-cost barn in rural Wisconsin is an American idyll.
With a few small changes and regular maintenance, existing buildings are some of the most sustainable around.
The modern staircase was built with the same salvaged wall planks that are used as flooring throughout.
The architect chose granite for the house’s base, zinc for its roof, and Scandinavian pinewood for cladding—all materials that complement the nearby gray stone building.
The second-floor office is housed inside a rounded rectangle of concrete that the architect inserted on top of the old farmhouse.