The picket fence isn’t for everyone. Take fashion designer Tia Cibani. Her recently renovated Hudson Valley farmhouse has a traditional shingled exterior, but when it came to a fence to protect her young children from a pool on one side of the property and a pond on the other, she went with a more contemporary enclosure.

“It’s a nice, light, feathery move in the landscape because of its transparency,” says Winka Dubbeldam, founder and principal of Archi-Tectonics, who designed the home’s renovation as well as the fence.

Dubbeldam devised two arcing lines of parallel wooden rails set in steel brackets connected by a below-ground metal bar that is anchored in a concrete channel. Installed at meticulously consistent intervals, they have a striking regularity despite the absence of cross bracing, which would have meant a greater disruption to the landscape. The result is a minimalist artwork doing double duty as a practical partition.

“Architecture and sculpture are both about breaking norms.”
—Winka Dubbeldam, designer

“I was a sculpture student at one time,” says Dubbeldam, adding that she transitioned into architecture because she enjoys working with teams and clients. “With sculpture, everything is possible. That’s not the case with architecture, but that challenge is what makes it so compelling.” Her fence is a bit of both.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Archi-Tectonics / @architectonics2129

Contractor: Dutchman Contracting

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In the Hudson Valley, a Minimalist Fence Artfully Contrasts a Renovated Farmhouse