Location: Sharon, Connecticut

Project Size: 2,200 square feet

Program: A modular rural residence for an extended family on a farm.

Design Solution:  Located in the Berkshires mountains and born within the time and budget constraints of the COVID epidemic, Oblong Farm is a restrained 2,200-square-foot residential structure that co-ops standard modular off-site construction by designing a singular gesture responsive to context and environment. Testing the manufacturer's limits for transportation, the structure comprises two heavily-insulated, 15-by-60-foot engineered wooden modules arranged side by side with a third module hinged by a large yellow spatial void—the color of the local forsythia plant. The disposition of the modules corresponds to a contextual and environmental analysis that privileges mostly in an east/west longitudinal orientation while accommodating the southern breezes and blocking the northern and northeastern winter winds from the entrance at the large yellow void. Both in their scale and non-domestic articulation, the yellow void and the repetitive cadence of its windows afford a dialogue between the residence's exterior and interior and by extension between it and the nearby farm structures.

On the interior—and again testing the manufacturer's allowable off-site structural spans—the center 22-foot portion of the two modular boxes is exempt from a lower horizontal ceiling as the hinged roof trusses bridge the two modules as envelope and structure. This large connected space becomes the extended family's hub. The layout also distills the essential components and their connections: A long spatial corridor to the north links all portions of the house to the spatial central hub and the yellow entry porch.

In all, the structure achieves an environmental and contextual responsiveness by leveraging the structural and sustainable opportunities of standard off-site fabrication and by the minimal means of its orientation and articulation. But it is the dissonance between the domestic and rural scale and type that affords Oblong Farm a singular statement beyond its responsiveness.

Structure and Materials: Off-site construction with engineered lumber and stick frame paneling.

Additional information
Completion date: April 2022
Site size: 20 acres
Total project cost: Withheld
Client: Withheld
Owner: Withheld

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Photos © Miguel De Guzmán & Rocío Romeo – Imagen Subliminal

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Images courtesy Scalar Architecture