Urban Fence

Neumann Monson Architects

Recognitions: AIA Iowa 2020 Craft Award

Project Description

A weathered steel fence veils a renovated farmhouse property, shielding it from nearby condominiums built when the farm was sold and subdivided. The encircled lawn provides a sanctuary of stone paths, shade trees, and gardens. A rolling gate provides closure at the driveway entrance and a rebuilt dry-stack stone wall, situated on axis with the old house at the parcel’s southern edge, helps re-assert the house’s street side presence. The steel fence consists of ruggedly welded panel segments that interlock through simple mechanical connections. At the fence’s base, sonotube-formed concrete foundations anchor HSS posts. Alternating welded HSS spurs and bottom rails provide telescoping connections between panels. These sturdy support members anchor a minimal top rail that caps the fence with a thin, almost graphic line, uninterrupted by the countersunk pins and welded tabs of its slotted junctures. In each panel, randomized groups of tightly spaced slats alternate between the fence’s interior and exterior faces. As the fence’s height staggers to conform with local regulation, the shorter fence’s top rail extends between these faces, providing mid-height stiffening for its taller continuation. The robust material and assembly bring a playful uncanniness to a recognizable board-on-board wood fence type. Depth and porosity filter landscape and views with degrees of transparency shifting with one’s vantage. During the day, the sun overlays a dash-dot-dot-dash of shade over the staccato of the sturdy, syncopated panels.