a dramatic yellow void defines 'oblong farm' by scalar architecture

scalar architecture completes the modular ‘oblong farm’

Located in the Berkshires mountains and born within the time and budget constraints of the COVID epidemic, ‘Oblong Farm’ by Scalar Architecture is a restrained 204 sqm residential structure boasting a standard modular off-site construction that translates into a singular gesture, responsive to its context and environment.

Testing the manufacturer’s limits for transportation, ‘Oblong Farm’ features two heavily insulated, 4.6 x 18.2m 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 its 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,’ notes Scalar Architecture.

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.

all images © Imagen Subliminal

a strong yet minimalist articulation all throughout

Moving to the interiors and again testing the manufacturer’s allowable off-site structural spans, the central portion of both modular boxes is exempt from a lower horizontal ceiling as the hinged roof trusses bridge the two volumes like envelope and structure. This large connected space becomes the extended family’s hub. Meanwhile, the layout distills all essential components and their connections; exemplifying that point is a long spatial corridor to the North linking all portions of ‘Oblong Farm’ to the central spatial hub and the yellow entry porch.

‘In all, the structure achieves environmental and contextual responsiveness by leveraging the structural and sustainable opportunities of a 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,’ concludes the practice.

‘Oblong Farm’ articulated as modular volumes with a single yellow void