Apple barn from mw|works

Architect
mw|works
A type
House
Status
Implemented
Year
2013
Size
360 sq.m.

Canyon Barn is an example of the renovation of a hundred-year-old wooden agricultural warehouse on the outskirts of the city of Kashmir, USA.

Fans of the writer Lillian Jackson Browne's series "The Cat Who..." certainly remember that the main character, journalist Jim Quiller, lived with his Siamese cats in an apple barn converted into a residential house. We were talking about a box lined with boards that retained a barely perceptible apple aroma.

The century-old barn restored by the architects of the mw|works bureau differs in shape from the one described by Brown (Quiller's barn was octagonal, on a stone foundation), however, for its interior cladding, the boards of the boxes in which the harvest of apples collected somewhere were stored and transported were also used in Kashmir city district, Washington state, USA. This territory in the valley of the Cascade Mountains is famous for its orchards, so apple barns and warehouses are a common type of historical industrial building here.

An abandoned wooden barn turned into a comfortable two-story house, while retaining its rural appearance and, as we have already said, the aroma of apples. In addition to boxes and restored original paneling, the architects used materials found in the area for shelves and furniture - logs, old carts, lamps and other vintage junk, which perfectly fit into the interior and gave the premises a special color.

The architects insulated the spaces, created large window openings and glazed the entrance group to the gable roof, while opening a view of the beam structure of the roof from the street. On the first floor there is a kitchen, utility rooms and two small bedrooms.

Most of the interior space is used as a guest room-atrium. The main eye-catching object was a huge barrel-shaped fireplace welded from steel sheets.

Part of the internal partitions is covered with light wooden panels that contrast with the dark palette of the old walls and floors. The back terrace of the house offers a view of meadows and gentle foothills with a pine forest.

Photo: Tim Bies