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New residential construction
Barn-Inspired
Bliss
The barn was already there. The house had to earn its place beside it.
Culpeper, Virginia 2020 New construction · 5 acres · Mountain views
Project type
New residential construction
Location
Culpeper, Virginia
Scope
5 acres · Mountain views
Completed
2020
"The barn's memory lives in the house's geometry. Without being literal about it."
— Luis Boza  ·  On building beside a historic structure
The brief
Five acres in Culpeper, a retired couple, a historic barn and silo — and a desire for a place where family could gather completely.

The existing barn wasn't a constraint — it was a design partner. Whatever the house became, it had to speak the same language as the barn while being genuinely contemporary. Homage without imitation.

The house was oriented around time of day before it was oriented around program. Morning light in the kitchen. Sunset views for the primary suite.

The design
An extruded bar with a shed roof, three silo-derived towers bringing light deep into the interior, oriented around time of day before program.

The house evolved into an extruded bar form with a shed roof — the barn's silhouette abstracted, not reproduced. Three towers punctuate the form, each functioning as a lantern that pulls natural light deep into the interior. The barn's memory lives in the house's geometry without being literal about it.

The primary suite frames the mountains from the bed — positioned deliberately under the third tower for the possibility of watching weather move across the sky.

The result
The porch is almost always occupied. The towers make you aware of the sky.

The family has gathered there in every season since. The porch is almost always occupied. The towers make you aware of the sky.

New construction is the rarest brief and the most demanding. When there's nothing to work against, everything has to come from a genuine understanding of the land and the life that will happen inside.

10 images · 2 films · Click to view full screen
Barn-Inspired Bliss — house and historic barn, daylight
Barn-Inspired Bliss — full composition at dusk
Barn-Inspired Bliss — porch and deck at golden hour
Barn-Inspired Bliss — shed roof and silo-derived towers
Barn-Inspired Bliss — glazed façade at dusk, towers as lanterns
Barn-Inspired Bliss — façade detail at dusk
Barn-Inspired Bliss — great room, daylight
Barn-Inspired Bliss — great room at dusk
Barn-Inspired Bliss — primary suite framing the mountains
Barn-Inspired Bliss — primary suite at dusk
Barn-Inspired Bliss — fly-through of the house, barn and silo
Barn-Inspired Bliss — animation of the glazed façade
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