NYTimes – The Grain Silo House
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Becky |
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Architecture, Design Press, Local Design, New York | 4 Comments
I spied this over at AT NYC before I had even opened The NYTimes House and Home Section today and swooned over it. This beautiful house in Germantown NY is a grain silo that contains the living room and bedroom, a shingled shed that houses the kitchen, bathroom, home office and closet, and a breezeway in between the two. I just love the simple forms side by side – the proportions are perfect and the shapes are so pure. I can see the conceptual collage underneath – the square opening touching the cylinder, the square to the right of it, the roof of the shed on the right that looks like if you extended it that it would graze the top of the silo.
The materials are perfect in their simplicity too – the galvanized steel silo, the shingles, and the gray rocks leading up to the entry. The site looks beautiful and the simple landscape plan compliments it so well. Something about it made me think a little tiny bit of Charles Gwathmey and a lot of Robert Venturi, (and then, of course, I started wondering if it were a duck or a shed or both!). Isn’t it wonderful to see someone build a small getaway (about 1000 square feet) that pays tribute to the vernacular architecture in the region. What a perfect country retreat!
*photos by Phil Mansfield for The NYTimes
Architect: Michael Altschuler
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January 5th, 2008 at 11:07 am (#)
I’ve just found my new dream house! Round rooms are magical and relaxing, and the two together are stupendous!
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm (#)
WOW Can you reveal the architect!
I am in love!
Susan
May 6th, 2008 at 9:58 am (#)
Susan, sorry for the delay, your comment came in the middle of about 100 spam comments. It’s Michael Altschuler. Thanks for stopping by!
It’s funny, I was just reading about a 20 year old Gehry guesthouse in the new Metropolis issue and it reminds me of this house a bit, although it is much more obviously deconstructionist.
Becky
January 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am (#)
Michael’s work is classy and earthy both! My wife and I are looking to do something similar with two silos, three quonsets, courtyard & fountain. The breezeway was an inspiration for semi-isolating the silo’s form to maintain its sculptural integrity. Thank you!