Field House

View of main entry to the house with its 'barn' door.

Project Details

• Project Name: Field House
• Client: Dr. Robert B. Geller
• Project Type: Residential Design
• Principal Designer: Wendell Burnette
• Design Team: Scott Roeder, Matthew G. Trzebiatowski, Joe Herzog
• Date of completion of project: October 2004
• Location of site: Ellington, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
• Built-up Area: 4,200 square feet

East elevation of the Field House.

The Building

The site located in northeastern Wisconsin- an area dominated by crop fields and dairy farms- is a sixteen acre "altered landscape" that has been farmed for generations.

A number of utilitarian structures dot the area with white limestone quarries, native prairie grasses, wetlands, and forests competing for space.

View of steel staircase with handrail in cherry wood.

The design responds to the unique context presented by both natural and man-made field conditions.

Seasonal changes in the context are further heightened by the plantation and rotation of crops and orchards.

Both -- the physical context as well as the concerns and interests of the client, emerged as the main generators of the design.

View of the living area with the kitchen space realized in black walnut wood.

Located behind two existing houses, the field is approached upon turning off the county road.

A tree line along the western edge leads the visitor towards the house across a land bridge spanning the edge of a protected wetland. Beyond this point, the path to the house is defined by a gravel drive sandwiched between the tree line and an apple orchard.

The house, along this path of approach, is visible as another structure in the landscape, its use revealed only on closer experience and examination.

View of the upper loft space.

The building and orchard frame views of the field. Limestone steps lead down to a cedar deck that opens onto these corn fields.

Haptic and sensory concerns of the design are subservient to its architectural form.

A simple 5,000 square foot box, the Field House is clad in a zinc galvanized metal skin, akin to other structures in the landscape such as the neighboring silos.

View of semi-open space on the upper level of the house.

The house attempts to connect to as well as be responsible for its environment.

Beyond the conventional residential spaces, the house also provides for an art and books gallery as and a silo ladder that ascends to a concealed roof-top observatory.

Credits

• Text: Courtesy of the architect
• Photographs by Bill Timmerman, Courtesy of the architect
• Compiled and edited by Varun Ajani