The pavilions within Grace Farms River Building, beautifully nest themselves under the roof of this sensitively designed and inhabited sculpture that flows across the landscape of New Canaan, CT. The building, designed by SANAA, is an elegant exploration of building siting and design. Its shape is sensitive to sunlight and shade, its interiors and exteriors alternate in a way which encourages slow deliberate movement and allow the roof and structure to negotiate the grade changes which surround it. The pavilions themselves are detailed to appear minimalistic in their impact on the main roof form. Each pavilion works in harmony with the roof to provide beautiful panoramic views of the landscape and surrounds. There are rules of expression by the architect, in which the elements that are exposed are purposefully detailed, creating an architectural language that is consistent and visually satisfying to the occupant. A sense of comfort, lightness, shelter and calm are all communicated in such a way that one feels they want to remain and linger about while taking in all the views or activities each pavilion has to offer. There is a walking path, a tea room, a library, a cafe, a performing arts theater, a recreation center – some of these spaces extending into the ground like an invisible river bottom – which provide a multitude of opportunities to engage the visitor and connect them to the landscape and its man-made river.
Grace Farms appears to be a destination for those trying to satisfy their architectural itch to see something outside of New York City and it definitely scratches. Its free to enter, and in my opinion, worth the trip.
The roof seems to hover, but the structure itself flows, over the land like a river.
The roof is supported by columns mimicking the trees beyond.
The glass walls, transparent by the natural materiality from the interior, curve, and confuse this transparency with reflection from certain angles from the exterior, dematerializing, like the polished marble slabs in Mies van Der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion.
The river flows downhill, but those that swim in it move upwards like salmon.
The river bed bottom is unknown from the surface, but encourages swimming and diving.
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