It’s not just a barn to Kruser

BLUEPRINT Building: Tobacco shed, Rock County Completed: Unknown Builder: Unknown Architect: Unknown Biggest Fan: Mark Kruser, Potter Lawson Inc., Madison

It’s pretty simple. They don't build things the way they used to.

That's especially true of anonymous agricultural buildings, the kind on country waysides or across the street from a new strip mall in a community that was once rural but is quickly becoming part of the suburban landscape, said Mark Kruser, an architect with Potter Lawson Inc., Madison.

"On one side of the street are old farm buildings, and on the other are new houses," Kruser said. "The new buildings don't have the proportions and the composition and symmetry and balance and things we find beautiful about old barns."

This attraction to the rural vernacular prompted Kruser, who grew up among the farms of Lafayette County, to choose a simple tobacco shed in Rock County as his favorite building in the state. While not unique, and Kruser offered many similar examples, the wooden shed is indicative of a style of farm structure — like a corn crib — that served the functional purpose of drying crops while also complementing its natural surroundings.

This tobacco shed in Rock County represents the rural vernacular that architect Mark Kruser of Potter Lawson Inc. finds compelling. Photo by Mark Kruser

These kinds of buildings are dying out, succumbing to the spread of urban life or giving way to prefabricated metal barns that place a greater emphasis on efficient production and low cost than considerations of appearance, he said.

"Old craftsmanship is important," Kruser said. "The rural farm structures were utilitarian, although they had craftsmanship evident in them."

He added that the rural vernacular found its way into the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, whom Kruser cites as an influence. One of Wright's chief contributions to design, Kruser said, was transforming the four-square box of the typical home or building into a series of shapes and ells that drew on the idea of a grouping of farm buildings, a sight Wright no doubt witnessed as a child spending time in Wisconsin.

"His buildings became a cluster of forms that expressed what was going on inside," he said.

Having said that, it can be hard to incorporate it into everyday work, which for Kruser now includes designing a court-house in Illinois. The demands of the owner, the site, the surroundings and the building's use take obvious precedence, Kruser said, but certain ideas and feelings can sneak in when he hits a tough spot.

"In the design process, you pull out all the things from deep in your memory," he said. "What can I recall that may influence that?"

- Jeremy Harrell