Big Red Barns
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I’m hoping to investigate and study new approaches on building in the Irish landscape; that which goes beyond the reinterpretation of ‘traditional’ forms in a neo-rationalist language. The buildings which triggered this interest for me are the rather obvious examples of the O’D + T Irish Pavillion and Blackwood Golf Club- buildings which go beyond the more literal reading of rural form and composition into a more spiritual understanding of rural Ireland (both old and new). Suggestions please of other buildings of interest (from all periods in history) and books worth reading. Come on, surely somenoe out there has got some fresh ideas and thoughts?
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No doubt you’ve read ‘Images of the Past’, John Tuomey’s short take on the topic in Annex 4, published by UCD in 1982. And Niall McCullough’s book ‘Palimpsest’.
As far as I know, the physical ‘return of the big red barn’ dates from the late ’80s – in particular, McCullough Mulvin’s oblique, urban twist on the barn, published as ‘House in a Church’ in New Irish Architecture 5, the 1990 AAI Awards. Richard Murphy’s house in Co Galway, published in the RIAI’s Irish Architectural Review vol 1, 1999, also owes much to country barns.
An outline ‘history’ of Ireland’s big red barns was prepared by Ingrid Gibney in the mid-’80s as part of her 4th-year technology dissertation; it should still be held in UCD’s Richview library.
For traditional American barns, see http://architecture.about.com/msubbarn.htm.
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Sorry. That should have been http://architecture.about.com/arts/architecture/cs/barns/index.htm
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More on traditional American barns at http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_washington/20001203wacover2.asp .
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Steven Holl’s Bellevue Art Museum (Washington State), which opens next Saturday, is stained “barn red”. The comments on the choice of colour are interesting. According to an article in The Oregonian by Jeff Switzer of the Associated Press, “Holl tested more than 100 shades of red – on concrete, in sun and rain – before he chose the barn-red stain on the building today.” His project architect, Martin Cox, is quoted as saying, “It works really well: it’s very intense on a cloudy, overcast day and brings warmth under a cool, grey sky.”
Full text (no pictures): http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/news_week.ssf?/news/oregonian/01/01/nw_11art07.frame
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Holl’s “art barn”, as he calls it: http://www.stevenholl.com/pages/bellvue.html
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dear trace..I am the Martin Cox quoted above and I was the Holl PA for the Bellevue project (I don’t know why the website link above calls me a manager – I’ve never seen that before). The intent of the “red barn” idea here is different than the examples above – O’D+T, etc. As you can see from the pic, the building is in a featureless US town (not the Irish landscape). However, the concerns with a raw material tectonic (rough concrete) to contrast against the surrounding melange of shiny mall buildings, an expressive color because so much around is beige or grey (including the sky), robust details and open spatial volumes inside were part of the “art barn” approach, and are analagous to other examples cited above. Its also a reference to the brief – this is not a true Museum (no collection) and much of the programme is based on hands-on studio work and strong ties with regional crafts.
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“Barry O’Reilly, an archaeologist and architectural historian from Dublin has completed a study of corrugated buildings across Ireland and is intending to write a book on the subject.” – from http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/features/2001/0622/fea3.htm
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