Cornwallville, NY

"Old Field Farm" is a 160-acre working farm, originally from the 1790s, on one of the highest sites near the Catskills. The project includes a master plan for an artist's studio, large greenhouse, farm manager's office, farm staff apartments, gathering space, machine stalls, hay storage, pig pens, goat houses, chicken coops, bee houses and outdoor farming space. An artist's studio/barn and greenhouse are sited like two arms to create a welcoming gesture upon approach. They define the "animal courtyard" which includes a retention pond, used to grow kemp and bamboo for making paper for art. All parts of the project were designed to be built by local labor or made from pre-fabricated components.

The studio is a scissor-truss structure made of wood from the site, milled locally and assembled by local craftsmen, and the site then reforested. The fourteen-foot mahogany sliding doors were made by local Amish carpenters. There is a walk-in chamber in the barn for curing ham from the pigs on the farm. The greenhouse, made from a kit of parts, has motorized louvers for ventilation and is geo-thermally heated. Like the artist himself, Peter Nadin, the site plan exudes a poetry and connection to the landscape. His work embodies the site by using materials from the farm, including Lindenberries, beeswax, wool from Kashmir goats, walnut paint and hand-made paper. <p>Photography:&nbsp; Laurie Lambrecht,</p>