balancing barn

Located in Suffolk, England, Balancing Barn is a spectacular collaboration between Mole Architects and MVRDV. There are so many different, unusual choices in this home that it's difficult to know where to even begin, but I think that the element of surprise is one of my favorite things it. As you can see in the image above, when you pull up the driveway on the right, the front view of Balancing Barn makes it looks like a modest, although quite brilliantly reflective, house. It's not until visitors turn the corner that the full length and cantilever actually come into view.

Now how stunning is that? According to MVRDV:

The Barn responds through its architecture and engineering to the site condition and natural setting. The traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting take their references from the local building vernacular. In this sense the Balancing Barn aims to live up to its educational goal in re-evaluating the countryside and making modern architecture accessible. Additionally, it is both a restful and exciting holiday home. Furnished to a high standard of comfort and elegance, set in a quintessentially English landscape, it engages its temporary inhabitants in an experience.

Personally, I'm not so crazy about the plywood-lined interior, but you have to admit that it must be pretty neat to look down at the ground through the windows on the floor of the living room.

(Photo 3 2010 © Edmund Sumner. All other photos 2010 © Chris Wright. Courtesy MVRDV / Living Architecture. Via The Design Ark)