Chesterwood Barn Gallery & Museum Shop
Stockbridge, Mass.
Francoise Bollack Architects

This project’s design takes cues from its illustrious owner’s previous additions

© Norman McGrath

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

Daniel Chester French, most famous for creating the seated Abraham Lincoln for the memorial in Washington D.C., once owned this barn that is now a museum owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. French himself had made successive additions to the barn to shelter carriages, animals, and tools. His additions were direct, economical, and distinct. During this most recent intervention, the architects opted to follow French’s approach and created an addition that would be pragmatic and identifiable—what a farmer would do.

The program called for an addition that included an entry, museum shop, display and storage space, and a public restroom. The architects split the addition’s program into two components, separating the museum shop from the storage and public restrooms. These components were given distinct architectural expressions; the museum shop is inspired by basic metal agricultural structures—like Quonset huts or Butler buildings—and it reuses pre-existing foundations, cantilevering over them. Storage and restrooms are accommodated in a rebuilt "chicken shack," whose salvaged doors are incorporated in the new construction. The architects also restored the barn to house a permanent exhibition.

Location:
Stockbridge, Mass.

Gross square footage:
2,700 sq. ft.

Total Construction Cost:
$300,000

Owner:
National Trust For Historic Preservation

Owner's Project Team:
William Dupont, Aia, Project Director For The National Trust
Linda Jackson, Curator, Chesterwood Estate And Museum

Architect:
Francoise Bollack Architects
218 Madison Avenue
New York, Ny 10016.
Tel.: (212) 686-0832
Fax: (212) 679-0571
E-mail: fb@francoisebollackarchitects.com
www.francoisebollackarchitects.com

From left to right:
Charles Huang, Sarah Diaz & Francoise Bollack