Sometimes, the functionality of a structure adds to its beauty. This is the case with the horse barn at Dark Horse Equestrian in Connecticut, built by Sequoia Contracting Company. The Upstate New York company primarily designs and builds custom homes, but has expanded to also constructing horse farms. “There are generally fewer code requirements for building a barn, but just because a barn is for an animal doesn’t mean you can risk the quality of the work,” says Alan Megerdichian, the owner of Sequoia Contracting Company. “I treat a barn the same way I would treat a house. I had previously built a custom home for the owners of Dark Horse, so they knew the quality of the work.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM LENZ
When building the barn, Alan focused on charming simplicity. “The main idea was to keep the barn really bright by using light colors and a pickling stain to lighten the natural wood,” he says. Although barns are not typically insulated, Alan decided to do so here. “We insulated their barn to keep it cooler in the summer,” he says, which is another example of Sequoia taking that extra step. This building is the equivalent of a 12-stall barn, but is set up for six horses with amenities such as an indoor treadmill to help the horses warm up, a tack room, grooming stall and wash stall. The barn is an ideal combination of quality design and function.