Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raising
At Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture

A symbol of a classic American way of life, the barn is rich in associations of self-sufficiency and community spirit. Now, its heavily romanticised form has been given a contemporary rethink in a project headed by Erin Besler. The co-founder of interdisciplinary design studio Besler & Sons, Besler is interested in the intersection of art, design and architecture. They have championed the notion of architecture as collaborative across a host of eclectic projects, redrawing architectural parameters across the fields of software, exhibition design, buildings and objects.
Collaborative community participation and flexible design potential unite in this project at Art Omi’s sculpture and architecture park in Ghent, Columbia County, New York. Working with the art centre, Besler heads a project to create a barn frame, rather than a functional barn, through a collaborative process involving the wider community.
Erin Besler amid barn materials, all untreated
‘Architecture is a guarded field and hard to access […]. A lot of what I do tries to bring people in’
Erin Besler
The project draws on the tradition of barn raising, where a community comes together to build a barn in a process of shared labour. Most barns in America don’t require architects for the build, responding directly to the environment and agricultural requirements.
By opening the gates, Besler unites the expert with the amateur, and the individual with the collective. ‘Architecture has spent so long shoring up boundaries around it, deciding who's a professional,’ Besler says. ‘That has a lot to do with liability and risk management, but also it is a guarded field and hard to access, both in terms of becoming an architect and of providing architectural services. A lot of what I do tries to bring people in, either to contribute to the project with participant ideas, or to find conceptual ways to include people who might not think they have anything to offer, or who would traditionally not have access.’
An exhibition at Art Omi’s Newmark Gallery, on show prior to the barn raising, displayed constructed barn sections and offered woodcraft workshops
Participants have been invited to join a rich and varied programme of social gatherings and creative workshops, from frame building to learning how to use tools and building frames and structures. The events culminate in the weekend of the barn raising, where the outdoor installation of the barn frame will be completed at the end of July. The structure will remain standing for the next two years.
Architectural considerations underpin functional choices. The structure is crafted from local wood, mostly pine and Douglas fir, which is untreated. ‘So many architectural materials are treated and chemically dependent on horrible things like arsenic that try to keep [them] up forever,’ Besler says. ‘Barns can go up and come down relatively quickly, like they are built as kits, or they can be taken apart and reassembled, or moved to different places. Some of that idea is built into this. It doesn't need to stay up forever, and we’re not negatively contributing to the environment in the meantime. You start to ask – what if we started to think about buildings in the same way? There are a lot of cultures that don't require buildings to stand forever, and there's a circular idea or temporality built into them.’
‘It doesn't need to stay up forever, and we’re not negatively contributing to the environment in the meantime. What if we started to think about buildings in the same way?’
Erin Besler
Detail of barn sections at the exhibition
Politically, culturally and socially, the barn holds a key place in American culture. A symbol of self-sufficient living, its emphasis on traditional gender and societal roles can also present more problematic connotations.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
‘It does seem in every photo of a barn-raising, the women are dressed in smocks and are cooking food, and the men are building,’ Besler says. ‘This project tries to address that in the series of events around the raising and leading up to it, by inviting members of the community to contribute. There is an educational aspect, and also, more generally, some form of experiential learning. You’re on the site and doing it, and if you can do it yourself, you can pass it on to the next person, and that runs through this project.’ Everyone – children and adults alike – can take on a number of roles, from manual labour to photography.
On the workshop table
Working together with Art Omi, Besler had the freedom to bring to life the project that spans art, architecture and design. ‘The location is quite rare, and there aren’t a lot of rural arts institutions that are willing to take something that's typically situated in really functional conversations, like a barn, and turn it into something that's more like a container for ideas,’ they add.
By eschewing the formality typical of such a project's process, Besler is keen to strip away the mystique that surrounds creating. ‘This is something that people can relate to even if they're not engaging in architectural or art discourse,’ they say. ‘Whether it's through the everyday materials that people can find at their local hardware store, or because of the barn itself, which is so common out here in the rural United States, and is something people have their own associations with. The project is about barns, but the barn is a vehicle to push these ideas through. It’s a collision between art and life.’
Erin Besler’s barn raising at Art Omi takes place 26 July 2025. More info at artomi.org
This article is in the August 2025 US Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from 10 July 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, and written extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys meeting artists and designers, viewing exhibitions and conducting interviews on her frequent travels.
-
Pat McGrath sets a new standard for luxury in beauty with La Beauté Louis Vuitton
The fashion house has launched its long-awaited debut beauty line, spearheaded by legendary make-up artist Pat McGrath
-
This Italian palazzo-turned-café adds a dash of drama to your morning espresso
Designed by studio AMAA, Caffè Nazionale brings new energy to a 19th-century former town hall in the northern Italian town of Arzignano
-
Wild side: the story behind our September 2025 Style Issue cover shoot
An animalistic mood permeated the A/W 2025 collections, captured by Nicole Maria Winkler and Jason Hughes in our September 2025 Style Issue cover shoot. Here, they tell the story behind the pictures
-
Richard Prince recontextualises archival advertisements in Texas
The artist unites his ‘Posters’ – based on ads for everything from cat pictures to nudes – at Hetzler, Marfa
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San Francisco
The artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?
The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
The spread of Butter: the Black-owned art fair where artists see all the profits
The Indianapolis-based art fair is known for bringing Black art to the forefront. As it ventures out of state to make its Los Angeles debut, we speak with founders Mali and Alan Bacon to find out more
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick Collection
The actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
-
Rolf Sachs’ largest exhibition to date, ‘Be-rühren’, is a playful study of touch
A collection of over 150 of Rolf Sachs’ works speaks to his preoccupation with transforming everyday objects to create art that is sensory – both emotionally and physically
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene
'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of society
A new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality