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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Habersham Farms Project - The Barn






Habersham Farms Project - The Buildings
Brown Design Studio, along with Moser Design Group is hosting a group of students from Andrews University for their Spring 2010 Semester. They will be writing periodically about their farm project for Family Farms Foundation’s Habersham Farms in Beaufort, SC. They will be designing a series of buildings for the farm, building one of them, and completing pricing sets for others, so that they’re ready for farmer Pat Gallagher to build.
March 23, 2010
The schematic design process for the Habersham Farm project is producing more refined drawings that are depicting the essence and ideology of Patrick Gallagher’s dream of a family farm – a place dedicated to promoting local, organic, sustainable agriculture as well as supporting small, low country farms. As architecture interns it’s our duty to assist Patrick in bringing his ideas for the farm into fruition, which is one objective that we are well on our way to accomplishing.
One of the buildings that will serve as iconic gesture for the farm in its later phase of development is the barn, which will be located off in the distance on the northeastern part of the site. The barn will serve as a terminating vista for patrons and visitors as they leave the homestead area of the farm to take a constitutional through the Gateway building into the fields. As a backdrop to the homestead the barn will hopefully evoke a sense of nostalgia in visitors – thus adding to the authenticity of the farm. One will also see the barn from Cherokee Farms Road, and once the new road leading into town is completed, it will be visible from there as well.
The barn’s initial purpose will be to serve as a repair shop and equipment storage for the farm. As the farm grows the barn will eventually house some livestock and be used like a more traditional barn. The fact that the barn will serve as a storage and repair facility is one of the reasons why it is set off from the rest of the buildings on the site. In other words, the barns purpose is to hide the daily messy utilitarian functions that can’t be performed anywhere else on the farm, while simultaneously acting as an icon for the farm.
To help design a barn that met the requirements of the program and reflect the local vernacular, a precedent study of South Carolina Barns was done. One form that was present in most of the barns from the precedent study was the gable front with sloping shed roofs on each side. According to the precedent photos most barns also had clerestory louver windows to ventilate the barns, which also helped with drying tobacco. After looking at pictures and other precedent studies it was then possible to develop a barn for Habersham Farm (as seen in elevation above).
he barn above is still needs to be further developed and refined, but the direction it’s going appears to be in tune with what the local vernacular and the program.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Habersham Farms Project - The Buildings

 
Habersham Farms Project - The Buildings
Brown Design Studio, along with Moser Design Group is hosting a group of students from Andrews University for their Spring 2010 Semester. They will be writing periodically about their farm project for Family Farms Foundation’s Habersham Farms in Beaufort, SC. They will be designing a series of buildings for the farm, building one of them, and completing pricing sets for others, so that they’re ready for farmer Pat Gallagher to build
March 12, 2010
The project for Habersham Farms has been developing quite nicely. Our group of interns has been working on a redevelopment of the master/site plan as well as designing some prototypes for the main farm buildings. There will be four main buildings, which are as follows:
1.Kitchen/Pavilion: the footprint for this building will be around 3,500 sq. ft.. The function of this facility will be to teach cooking classes and serve as a community meeting point for various activities.
2.Education/Gallery building: this building will be approx. 2,500 sq. ft. on two floors. It will contain a large space that will be used for educational and mass media gatherings as well as office space, a kitchenette, and additional storage space. The main idea for this building is that groups can come here to learn about the functions and history of Habersham Farms while also learning about farming methods for the South Carolina Lowcountry.
3.Bunkhouse/Gateway: this building is about 4,000 sq. ft.. It will be two stories and will contain a bunkroom with kitchenette upstairs with locker rooms and a main storage area on the ground floor. The hope is that the bunkhouse could house anyone, students or workers, who may be working at Habersham Farms for a semester or indefinitely. It also derives its gateway name because the building will consist of two sections on either side with an open middle porte-cochere on the ground floor. This will provide a visual axis and connection from the main farm area to the barn.
4.Barn: there will be a typical barn that will draw its character from many SC Lowcountry barns. It will house livestock as well as be a storage space for various crops. There will also be an area where machinery and equipment can be repaired.
There will be various other structures and small outbuildings which really make the farm function as it should. These include greenhouses, a windmill, and shading/storage structures. In addition, our group is designing a prototype vegetable stand that will be located on Cherokee Farms Road. From this stand Farmer Pat will be able to sell daily to those customers who desire fresh, ripe, locally grown fruit and produce.
This past Wednesday we had a review of this project with farmer Pat Gallagher, Patrick Kelly from T&D Landholding’s and local Habersham architects, Eric Brown and Eric Moser. We had a good discussion regarding the implementation of these designs. As this project moves forward during the next few months you can follow its progress on this blog.