New Lebanon, New York
Under Construction
Old timber beams, a patchwork of pine and maple floorboards, painted wood, stained plywood, cast-iron, floral wallpaper, stainless steel, slate
A small contractor crew based in the Berkshires, a local plumber, a teenager with an excavator, and a custom lighting fabricator
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Renovation of an abandoned Waldorf school to become a house, a residency, and a workshop in upstate New York. By tearing away surfaces, the house’s original frame was revealed, which required a process of structural forensics. Tracing the original loads of the house that had been disrupted by past renovations, timber beams were relocated to their correct positions, carrying weight to a new concrete slab in the basement.
Details of the house were designed to tie the old with the new, incorporating select original elements into a new timless whole. Rather than dividing the former classrooms to maximize the number of traditional bedrooms, daybeds were installed in hallways and leftover spaces. As a result, the large bedrooms contain desks and workspaces for future residency pariticpants.