In the Hudson Valley, a Minimalist Fence Artfully Contrasts a Renovated Farmhouse
Architect Winka Dubbeldam taps into her days as a sculpture student to create a barrier-breaking wooden partition.
Architect Winka Dubbeldam taps into her days as a sculpture student to create a barrier-breaking wooden partition.
The picket fence isn’t for everyone. Take fashion designer Tia Cibani. Her recently renovated Hudson Valley farmhouse has a traditional shingled exterior, but when it came to a fence to protect her young children from a pool on one side of the property and a pond on the other, she went with a more contemporary enclosure.
Winka Dubbeldam chose recycled ipe wood for a fence she designed in New York State, because of its oily and dense composition, which can withstand the elements.
Photo by Federica Carlet
"It’s a nice, light, feathery move in the landscape because of its transparency," says Winka Dubbeldam, founder and principal of Archi-Tectonics, who designed the home’s renovation as well as the fence. Dubbeldam devised two arcing lines of parallel wooden rails set in steel brackets connected by a below-ground metal bar that is anchored in a concrete channel. Installed at meticulously consistent intervals, they have a striking regularity despite the absence of cross bracing, which would have meant a greater disruption to the landscape. The result is a minimalist artwork doing double duty as a practical partition.
Over time the wood will gain a patina to match the home’s weathered cedar cladding.
Photo by Federica Carlet
"Architecture and sculpture are both about breaking norms," says Winka Dubbeldam, designer.
Photo by Federica Carlet
See the full story on Dwell.com: In the Hudson Valley, a Minimalist Fence Artfully Contrasts a Renovated Farmhouse
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