100 Word Description: The Produce Shed at Funny Girl Farm is a 4,300 square foot barn used for the processing and packaging of produce grown on the farm. The shed shelters an open workspace and equipment storage area, which can also double as a multi-purpose gathering area for a variety of informal and programmed entertainment events in the off-season. The shed’s enclosing screen envelope is constructed of a finely grained cypress lattice hung off the building’s structural steel frame. The building’s roof assumes the form of a hyperbolic parabola, fashioned from a disciplined interplay of sloping steel perimeter girders and glue laminated wood rafters.
Architect’s Statement: The Produce Shed at Funny Girl Farm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is a 4,300 square foot barn to be used for the processing and packaging of produce grown on the farm. The shed shelters a large, open workspace and equipment storage area, flanked by a linear bar of enclosed utility spaces including produce coolers, rest rooms, offices, employee lounge and a tool shop. The shed can also double as a multi-purpose gathering area for a variety of informal and programmed entertainment events in the off-season. As a working farm structure, the Produce Shed is constructed of durable materials resistant to extremes of temperature, humidity and demanding agrarian use. The shed’s three enclosing screen walls are constructed of a finely grained cypress lattice hung off the building’s thinly wrought structural steel frame. The lattice acts as a permeable scrim, sheltering the interior of the shed from the summer sun, while still preserving an intimate visual connection to the surrounding farmland. The building’s roof assumes the form of a gracefully shallow hyperbolic parabola, fashioned from a disciplined interplay of sloping steel perimeter girders and glue-laminated wood rafters. The roof-form is functional, inducing natural ventilation and offering end-bay clearance for the farm’s tractors. Nevertheless, it is equally a lyrical gesture, intended to ennoble the work-a-day craft of preparing a crop for market. The shed’s production furnishings have been designed to be readily broken-down and stored wherever multi-purpose space is needed for the staging of entertainment events or public receptions.
Type of Construction: Galvanized steel structural frame and connections, cypress lattice screen, glulam beams, framing elements in thermally modified lumber, concrete slab-on-grade.
