By AIA Wyoming
Location: Cheyenne, WY
Size: 1,600 sq ft (loft only)
Category: Residential / Adaptive Reuse
Arecently widowed wife and daughter of a historic property developer resolved to continue a legacy. Confronted with significant life changes — the daughter newly married and living part-time in another state and the widow amid a national political career and spending significant amounts of time out of town — the two set out to redevelop the upper level of the idle structure into a shared living space for their intermittent stays while in town.
Despite being vacant and unmaintained for nearly forty years and with shingles shedding from the roof and openings visible through the roof structure causing rotting upper floor deck and visual evidence of a past fire, an investigation confirmed the structure had “good bones.”
The solution celebrates the simple honesty of the vernacular architecture coexisting with the relevance of modernism. The solution includes the arrangement of the long rectangular floor plate with an open living core and kitchen to support the owners’ love of cooking and entertaining, flanked on either end with bedroom suites for privacy — which are interchangeable as office space if desired. Window openings are retained and re-glazed, offering an abundance of natural light to flood the interior from all directions. The roof is insulated on the upper side allowing the open gambrel structure to define the interior space and provide the finish. The flooring is a large format porcelain tile with a natural concrete look throughout, lending to the motif. Pocket doors made of salvage wood provide privacy for the bedrooms and tuck out of the way for an open feel when desired. Structural lateral bracing in the form of steel tubes are left exposed along the long exterior brick walls. Natural concrete countertops and bulb-on-a-chord chandeliers in the kitchen completes the look.
The exterior takes a more traditional approach, with much of the outer skin retained or replaced in kind for an appearance reminiscent of the original barn. And a vaguely discernible commercial “ghost” sign painted on the exterior façade is retained for its historic appeal, nodding to the adjacent historic district.
The lower level is reserved for a future retail space — possibly a small coffee shop, specialty grocer, or a bistro that fits the space and surrounding neighborhood’s appeal.
AIA Wyoming
This story appears in the 2020 Directory of the Wyoming Architecture Magazine.
