Minimalist poplar log cabin wins Small Architecture award

An art studio, an exercise room and a place to practice drums. All of this in a small 500-square-foot structure located at Bundoran Farm, a unique sustainable residential community on a working farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. In other words, a getaway from the busy city life of the owners. This is at least the study’s opinion. Bushman Dreyfus Architects, that with this singular project it has been done with the Annual MasterPrize Architecture Award in the Small Architecture category.

“With the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020, the owners were eager to leave Manhattan and spend more time in rural Virginia. Wife is a 3D artist working in a variety of media. Husband plays drums on his time free. Realizing that pandemic life was the new normal, arose the need for more space, both to live and to create.”explains the study.

The owners owned a lot of land of more than 13 hectares of land and decided to build a house that is currently under construction, fix up and convert an old log cabin into a guest house and shape this studio to make it a quiet space between those two future spaces.

Black stained poplar wood

The The building’s simple, minimalist, prismatic shape exudes the inspirations of Scandinavian barns, in an essential and timeless vernacular. “The sculptural form of the building is emphasized by the use of the same cladding system on the roof and exterior walls. As one gets closer, dark geometry is resolved into individual wooden slats, and perceptions of the structure change quite a bit from far to near. The color palette is kept to an absolute minimum, using dark-stained poplar slats for both wall and ceiling. The lining system is sectional and designed to be removable. Vertical battens are attached to horizontal battens, aligned at all elevations, roof and front door. Behind the carefully detailed and tightly spaced wooden slats is a UV stable black waterproofing membrane.”

For its part, the interior is an unadorned workspace that is painted white. It is equipped with adjustable track lighting in the ceiling and an art cabinet on the south wall. Large windows illuminate the room from three sides and provide a 270 degree view of the surrounding pastures and mountains. The south wall remains solid to provide privacy from the driveway and to shield the room from direct southern sun. A unique project, with an original design and a sustainable concept that has deservedly won this important award.