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The architects specified an aluminum roof that “ghosts” the structure—it’s a material that recalls the typical use of corrugated metal on agricultural buildings, yet it subtly contrasts with the historic form. “It’s not quite what you’d use on a normal barn,” says Powell.

The lot’s second home was demolished to make room for a large backyard by L.A. standards. The picture window provides an interesting perch.

The house sits within a field of trees.

The concept is based on the ever-changing color and positioning of the hay as cladding on the barn. When hay is stacked along the outer storage shelves in the winter, it is green; as the season unfolds, the hay turns yellow, and the caretaker removes it from the shelves as it is used for feed.

Big Barn

The weeHouse exteriors are clad in corrugated Cor-Ten, but with a custom pattern of folds to create an organic randomness. The foundations were designed with a shallow recess around the top to make the modules look like they’re hovering. After they bought the property in early 2014, the Siegels camped there for two summers while they saved up money and planned a permanent structure. In his research, BJ came across this design, a customizable prefab house by Alchemy Architects. "Of all the things that I found, I was drawn to that one because it was absolutely the simplest and cleanest," he says.

Kevin and Katie enjoy happy hour on their new covered patio. The plantings were inspired by the garden in Mexico where they got married. During the pandemic, "We were like, I want to go on vacation, but we can't, so let's just make our backyard a vacation,

Residents enter the house from the street through the upper level, which contains the bedrooms. The rafters were removed to create additional loft space.

The facade achieves a notable sense of verticality for such a stout structure, with its stained-timber cladding aimed straight up toward the sky. The heavy, horizontal brick-work of the neighboring Georgian houses seems to imply aesthetic controversy, but in fact, during its short planning review, Reeve's house received letters of support from no fewer than five neighbors. The front gate opens onto a driveway, which in turn leads to a private patio around back.

The Baumann family residence in Gowanus, Brooklyn, is all geometry up front, with a rectilinear grid of steel and cypress comprising the structure’s double facade.