ShowCase is an on-going feature series on Archinect, presenting exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.
In this special series of ShowCase features, we are profiling a single project from each of the eight Architectural League's "Emerging Voices", as profiled in our recent feature 3 Questions for 8 Emerging Voices.
We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.
In this special series of ShowCase features, we are profiling a single project from each of the eight Architectural League's "Emerging Voices", as profiled in our recent feature 3 Questions for 8 Emerging Voices.
We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.
We designed this workshop and storage facility for a builder whose property lay within a watershed conservancy area. Conservation regulations limited allowable building coverage on the land and our client sought to reduce the sprawl of loose material stockpiles and pallets strewn around the surface of the site.
The building serves as a dimensionally economical and energy efficient storage rack for heavy materials, in which tightly packed and palletized stone and wood are stored in a flexible external shelving system that allows access to any pallet in any position on the rack without disturbing others around it.

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn
As an integral part of the structural steel frame, we developed a series of cantilevered shelf standards (akin to the lumber racking systems found in commercial lumber yards) and based the building’s organization on the dimension and weight of a pallet of stone and on the wheelbase, turning radius, and reach of the articulated loader which moves and manages the material and which is parked inside the building when not in use.

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn
The exterior expression of the barn, a rough and changing mosaic of wood and stone, contrasts with the barn’s bright, smooth internal surfaces. Behind the steel pallet racks, a double-layered sheath of extruded polycarbonate panels, whose translucency admits daylight to the building interior wherever pallet racks are left unfilled, forms the enclosure of the building.
The building is entirely heated and cooled geo-thermally and its ground-source heat pumps and electric work lights are powered by a rooftop array of translucent photovoltaic panels that also serve as skylights to further supplement natural interior illumination. By extending the translucent roof canopy, we created an evenly day-lit work space and weather-protected storage for stockpiles of loose sand and loam, while expanding the area and capacity of the photovoltaic array. The building currently produces more electrical energy than it consumes, functioning as a small private generating plant that allows its owner to sell the surplus electricity back to the regional utility company.

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn
Storage Barn

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Storage Barn: Concept Diagram
Storage Barn: Concept Diagram

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Storage Barn: Site Plan
Storage Barn: Site Plan

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Storage Barn: Floor Plan
Storage Barn: Floor Plan

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Storage Barn: Elevation
Storage Barn: Elevation

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Storage Barn: Wall Section
Storage Barn: Wall Section
Gray Organschi Architecture
After returning from a two year research project on contemporary housing and urban reconstruction in East Berlin, Elizabeth Gray and Alan Organschi founded the design/build partnership Gray Organschi Architecture in 1994. The projects completed in their studio and fabrication facility in New Haven have ranged from the development of hardware, furniture, and building assembly systems to the design of buildings for evolving institutions such as community child care centers and, most recently, a residence and chapel for a community of Jesuit teachers and priests, now under construction at Fairfield University. They have worked extensively with the prefabrication and installation of bridges and buildings in remote and logistically complex building sites, developing low impact rigging and installation systems to minimize damage to delicate ecologies. Their designs for the adaptive reuse of abandoned urban structures have included the award winning Firehouse 12 Music Recording and Performance Space and a proposal for the reprogramming and redevelopment of the New Haven Coliseum, which received an AIACT Honor Award. Their staff of ten architects, designers, and fabricators spends as much time in the workshop and in the field as at the desk; each is closely involved in the construction of the work they design, developing prototypes, producing components, and coordinating assemblies. Rather than advocating a single design approach, they seek instead to explore ideas and improvise solutions relevant and appropriate to each program and place.
Elizabeth Gray graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English and Architecture from Yale College and a Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. Upon completion of her graduate work, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the traditional houses of the Minangkebau and Batak peoples of Sumatra.
Alan Organschi is a member of the faculty of the Yale School of Architecture where he coordinates Yale's first year graduate housing studio which culminates each spring with the student design and construction of an affordable house in New Haven. He received a Bachelor's degree in History from Brown University and a Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. He is a co-recipient of a research grant from The Hines Research Fund for Advanced Sustainability in Architectural Design for work on high density, high performance wood housing in the United States.
The Architectural League of New York recognized Gray Organschi Architecture as an “Emerging Voice” in 2009.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.


If we were fitting into a wood and stone are why introduce galvanized steel and plastic panels? Totally alien to that environment. Look how nice the stone berm walls look in comparison, why not use wood?
The racking has been very specifically made to hang on the building columns, supposedly fulfilling two functions with one material. In fact all the components would have to be custom designed and fabricated at I would guess more expense than commercially available equivalents. That would be ok if the solution had better functionality but it has far worse. All the materials are loaded on skids with no underside to allow the forks in / out access and then loaded onto the rack with maybe 1/4" either side to spare.This is done with a crude farm type forklift operating in rain and mud outside. What happens when it slips and knocks heavy skids sideways or backwards into the plastic panels?
It seems to be in the middle of nowhere so the solar power is great but what is the client doing with these materials? Is there a further process here or just storage?
I would hate to have to go out there on a snowy December night and offload pallets of material, but I wouldn't miss seeing it. The locals would just point you to the X files building.