Stables
Ketchen Place Farm: Rock Hill, South Carolina
On fifty gently sloping acres south of Charlotte, North Carolina, Ketchen Place Farm is a family-owned, female-run farm that breeds thoroughbred and warmblood sport horses. Blackburn Architects provided architectural services for the construction of a 20-stall barn and a not-yet-built, separate four-bay garage with a two-bedroom, two-bath residence above. The master plan includes redesign and improvement of roads, fencing, paddocks, a run-in shed, and a well-defined entrance to the facility. The shed-row style barn, which includes a studio apartment above for the observation of foals, wraps around three sides of a courtyard that doubles as a small sand training paddock. The project was featured in the Spring 201o issue of Architecture DC Magazine.
Program 20-stall barn with groom’s studio, four-bay garage with residence, redesign of roads, fencing, paddocks, shed, and facility entrance
Completion 2008
Rider Demonstration at Ketchen Place Farm
Private Barn: Montana
Designed in response to an adjacent new residence and in the style of existing barns on the private ranch, this eight-stall barn in Montana uses heavy timber framing and western cedar siding.
The program includes wash and grooming stalls, a lounge/office, large tack rooms, and a loft with a balcony that overlooks an outdoor arena. The barn’s deep overhangs create covered areas to wash and groom horses outdoors while a continuous translucent ridge skylight allows generous amounts of natural light within the barn.
Program 8-stall barn, outdoor arena, service building
Completion 2004
A translucent continuous ridge skylight provides ample natural light within the barn's interior
Western cedar siding evokes a natural look so the barn may suit the landscape
The loft area has plenty of natural light while the deck is the perfect spot to relax and watch riders in the nearby outdoor arena
Being in the middle of nowhere sure has its perks.
Farms with Open Doors: Open Houses (FARMS) this Year
Just a quick note to share the following list of farms that are offering open houses this year as posted by Throughbred Times. Lane’s End Farm, a Blackburn project in Versailles, Kentucky, is offering tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily through January 14th. If you own or work at a farm that would like to be included on the list, email copy@thoroughbredtimes.com with your information. I’d welcome your thoughts if you happen to tour Lane’s End or any of the other farms. We designed Lane’s End Farm in collaboration with Morgan Wheelock, the talented landscape architect, as the Farm greatly expanded its operations from 1990 to 1995. However, the design intent – striving to provide as much natural light and ventilation as possible within the barns – remains as important today as it did then.
Lane's End Farm in Versailles, KY
Winley Farm: a Millbrook, New York Destination
ELLE Magazine recently featured Millbrook, New York in the “Jet-Setter” column of its magazine and website. Of particular interest to us at Blackburn is its mention of the riding facilities at Winley Farm. We designed this project a few years ago, which has a 40-stall barn, an enclosed arena, a veterinary facility, and other amenities. It’s a terrific spot to safely board your horses or to attend a public riding clinic. I’m happy that Winley is getting the recognition it deserves as it couldn’t be run by a nicer group of people.
The arena at Winley Farm in Millbrook, New York
The barn at Winley Farm
Barn Placement: How to Position your Stables for Maximum “Green” Efficiency
Where your barn sits on your property is one of the first decisions you’ll make when planning for a new barn. Grade, drainage, proximity of service roads, prevailing winds, and barn angle in relation to the sun all play a key role in the health and safety of your horses.
Equestrian site planning can help you avoid mistakes that can have significant health consequences for your horses, as well as improve the efficiency of daily operations. Here are a few points to consider when site planning with the environment in mind.
Building orientation as it relates to the path of the sun and prevailing winds.
This single decision—where to place your barn—has a huge impact on energy efficiency as well as the health and comfort of your stabled horses. Harnessing passive solar heat energy and prevailing breezes can keep your barn cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Design decisions that include the placement of façade openings, overhangs, skylights, roof vents, and more allow a building to work with solar energy passively.
Drainage lines, water conservation, prevention of pollution.
Barns and arenas create large footprints with massive roof spaces. Water displacement should be considered so that water draining from the barn site doesn’t contaminate local streams with hazardous runoff, cause soil erosion, and water loss. Storm drainage can be collected and returned to the ground or conserved for other purposes.
Site disturbance
Construction machinery can cause soil erosion, damage root systems of timber, and destroy sensitive grassland. Stockpiles of materials can create similar damage to the natural ecology. Thoughtful placement of machinery and materials is important. Where paving is necessary, choose recycled, permeable materials. Plan adequate paddock spaces and establish a paddock rotation plan so that horses can rotate the use of outdoor areas to avoid damage to sensitive grasslands.
Glenwood Farm photo by Steve Roe
Sagamore Farm in new Rizzoli book: Stables by Kathryn Masson
We’re really excited to be a part of Kathryn Masson’s new book called Stables: Beautiful Paddocks, Horse Barns, and Tack Rooms. The book features stunning photographs by Paul Rocheleau and showcases a variety of stables across the United States. One of the stables shown is Sagamore Farm, the famous thoroughbred-horse breeding farm originally owned and operated by Alfred G. Vanderbilt, II.
Stables by Kathryn Masson
Blackburn Architects had the pleasure of working with Sagamore’s current owner, Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour, to restore and upgrade the facilities, which had fallen into serious disrepair from the former previous ownership. We provided architectural services to renovate two of the farm’s existing barns: the 16-stall foaling and 20-stall broodmare barns.
If you’d like to check out the book, it’s available through Amazon and Rizzoli. The Classicist blog has also written about the book in a post titled America’s Finest Equestrian Architecture.
Here's Sagamore before work began
Sagamore after construction...
Sagamore's aisle after construction
