The Farmhouse: New Inspiration for the Classic American Home - Jean Rehkamp Larson (Boek)

*****
Farmhouses evoke nostalgic memories--real or imagined--of a simpler life and a deep, nourishing connection to the seasons and the land. While most of us don't live that way anymore, we all share a longing for the values that this classic American house form represents.
So what makes a true American farmhouse? A farmhouse is intimately connected to the land and all its seasons, dominates a community of buildings, and is built to last using natural, indigenous materials. These are the core qualities of the farmhouse style, whether old or new.
From a working farm on Martha's Vineyard to a horse ranch in Washington State, this remarkable collection of 20 new and remodeled farmhouses celebrates the best American farmhouses built in the past five years. Over 300 photographs beautifully illustrate these homes, and the accompanying site and floor plans, historical sidebars, and up-close details add depth to this rich collection.
With this ground breaking book, America's quintessential house style is reinvented for the 21st-century family.

From Publishers Weekly
These days most Americans earn their living in front of a computer or on a telephone or over a service counter, not driving a tractor through a field or sheering wool off sheep. But the ideal of the American farmhouse endures, in part, according to Larson, because "these homes satisfy a longing for a wholesome, satisfying life grounded in a sense of the land and its traditions." Indeed, her carefully illustrated survey could make anyone want to live among the trees and fields, if only on the weekends. Larson, cofounder of the architectural firm Rehkamp Larson in Minneapolis, begins by explaining the "hallmarks of the farmhouse style." The houses are situated carefully to take advantage of the land’s natural resources (i.e., houses in the dry Southwest may be placed near wells or streams). They use regional building materials, employ simple design forms and monochromatic paint schemes. They grow over time with the addition of wings and porches, and they are frequently "nestled" among a community of outbuildings, such as barns or corncribs. Larson then presents 21 examples of restored, fresh-built and renovated farmhouses, showing how each interprets and displays these hallmarks. The examples range from a pre-Revolutionary Martha’s Vineyard farm that is still used to raise chicken and sheep to a spare, modernist home that looks like a red block with the top cut into a triangle. Larson’s clear text, with its copious use of floor plans, site plans and sidebars, is friendly and instructive, making this book a good choice for architects and homeowners alike.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
" Enhanced by 300 color photographs, site and floor plans, plus historical sidebars, the book provides not only insight into how and why the farmhouse has worked so efficiently for centuries; it also inspires prospective homeowners to incorporate these time-tested principles for centuries to come."
--The Boston Globe

http://www.amazon.com/Farmhouse-Inspiration-Classic-American-Home/dp/1561588741/ref=pd_sim_b_3

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