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Archer & Buchanan Architecture, Ltd.

Thank you very much for your kind feedback. Here is the story behind the design of this custom fence: Located on a twelve-acre property in Berwyn, Pennsylvania sits an Arts & Crafts Inspired House designed and built roughly ten years ago. The property and structures continue to evolve with the most recent addition of a sculptural fence. While performing as a “fence” to keep deer out it was conceived as yard sculpture. Roughly 300 individual COR-TEN (registered trademark with the United States Steel Corporation) steel blades, set 8 inches apart, stretch from the corner of the house to the edge of the property. COR-TEN steel is different from typical steel in that it is essentially pre-rusted. It is made up of a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting and form a stable rust-like appearance. The material was chosen for its rich, dark color which picks up on the clay tile roof of the house and for the steel’s durability. Each stanchion stands 8’ above grade, 2’ below, weighs 80-90 lbs, and is 5/8” thick. The profile of the stanchions is an irregular trapezoid that abstractly relates to forms taken from the house. No stanchion is parallel with any other except at the gate, and full scale templates were made to help the contractor set each one individually in concrete at its own angle. There are no horizontal connections or supports between stanchions in the fence. The gate has only two horizontal bars to help span the driveway, and each leaf weighs 1200 lbs. Fence stanchions were cut with a plasma cutter from sheets of COR-TEN steel and gate stanchions were cut and then welded to solid machined steel bars. The serpentine layout of the fence is deliberate; it weaves through the front yard, ‘opening and closing’ around existing trees, straightening out only when crossing the drive, then continuing to weave on the other side. Combined with the angular profile of the stanchions, the winding plan can play some interesting tricks on the eyes; from some points the fence looks solid, and others it looks blade thin, sometimes projecting a wave effect of light passing through. During strong winds it actually becomes kinetic, an allusion to blowing blades of grass.

Reply to: Thank you very much for your kind feedback. Here is the story behind the design of this custom fence: Located on a twelve-acre property in Berwyn, Pennsylvania sits an Arts & Crafts Inspired House designed and built roughly ten years ago. The property and structures continue to evolve with the most recent addition of a sculptural fence. While performing as a “fence” to keep deer out it was conceived as yard sculpture. Roughly 300 individual COR-TEN (registered trademark with the United States Steel Corporation) steel blades, set 8 inches apart, stretch from the corner of the house to the edge of the property. COR-TEN steel is different from typical steel in that it is essentially pre-rusted. It is made up of a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting and form a stable rust-like appearance. The material was chosen for its rich, dark color which picks up on the clay tile roof of the house and for the steel’s durability. Each stanchion stands 8’ above grade, 2’ below, weighs 80-90 lbs, and is 5/8” thick. The profile of the stanchions is an irregular trapezoid that abstractly relates to forms taken from the house. No stanchion is parallel with any other except at the gate, and full scale templates were made to help the contractor set each one individually in concrete at its own angle. There are no horizontal connections or supports between stanchions in the fence. The gate has only two horizontal bars to help span the driveway, and each leaf weighs 1200 lbs. Fence stanchions were cut with a plasma cutter from sheets of COR-TEN steel and gate stanchions were cut and then welded to solid machined steel bars. The serpentine layout of the fence is deliberate; it weaves through the front yard, ‘opening and closing’ around existing trees, straightening out only when crossing the drive, then continuing to weave on the other side. Combined with the angular profile of the stanchions, the winding plan can play some interesting tricks on the eyes; from some points the fence looks solid, and others it looks blade thin, sometimes projecting a wave effect of light passing through. During strong winds it actually becomes kinetic, an allusion to blowing blades of grass.

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