Bamboo Barn and Green Farm by De Leon & Primmer Architects

'Mason Lane Farm Operations Facility' by American practice de leon & primmer architecture workshop
is an entry into this year's World Architecture Festival for the production, energy and recycling category.
Located in Goshen, Indiana, the project is a new complex for farm equipment, servicing, re-fueling and
storage on a 2,000-acre property utilized for agriculture, recreation, wildlife habitat and conservation purposes.

Two separate barn structures consolidate the various programmatic elements while heavy consideration 
was put into the circulation and access requirements of the large-scale farm equipment. The building focuses 
on recycling and using locally sourced materials.

Bamboo is the primary building material for a large covered shed (barn B), which is used to provide seasonal storage for grain and hay, as well as equipment. Harvested from a site 35 miles away from the project site, the bamboo stalks are put together in a lattice grid fashion, providing a permeable skin that allows the stacks of hay to dry through natural ventilation. Three layers of bamboo are assembled together through galvanized re-bar wire ties.

Both structures are thoughtfully placed on the plot to frame the outdoor work courtyard. 
The arrangement cuts down on the need for outdoor lighting requirements to an internalized 
site zone. The existing slope and terrain of the site is used to collect the stormwater for non-potable
use while a system of drivable, shallow concrete channels aligned below each roof eave collects 
additional rain water. In this manner, the project enables the site and buildings to work together 
to provide an efficient facility space.

Mainly drawing from the simplicity of local farm structures and building traditions, the designs
of the barns are decidedly 'low-tech,' favoring conventional construction methods and ordinary
materials over specialized systems. 

[via Designboom]