Architect Steve McDowell’s reimagining of a rundown hay barn in Overbrook, Kansas, is among the many most hanging examples of a repurposed outbuilding we’ve ever seen—and that’s largely attributable to his delicate two-part design: 1) Restore the unique exterior, proper all the way down to the rusted corrugated metallic cladding. 2) Rebuild the within fully into a contemporary and cozy, albeit super-compact, weekend retreat.
The farm—corn and beans are its most important crops—has been in his spouse Mary Anne’s household since 1961. Throughout the COVID pandemic, their son took to tenting together with his mates on the property, simply an hour and a half from Kansas Metropolis, the place the household resides. Impressed by his escapes, the couple determined to revive the barn—”the one remaining vertical construction on the farm,” says Steve—and switch it into their little home on the prairie.
With a footprint that is available in at simply 480 sq. toes, the house “operates a lot larger than it’s,” he says, due to a sleep loft and the addition of two porches, one within the entrance, the opposite within the again. “My favourite half is the best way it connects us to nature. We have been there for 3 days not too long ago, and it was pouring rain and too moist to be open air. However you possibly can hear the rain on the roof and porches, and you possibly can completely benefit from the views and watch the climate.”
Beneath, he walks us by his design selections.
Pictures by Kelly Callewaert, courtesy of BNIM.
