Photography by Rush Jagoe, courtesy of Berman Horn Studio.
Come with us on a tour of an artist's ivy-covered welding studio in upstate New York, remodeled by architects Maria Berman and Brad Horn of Berman Horn Studio.
Boston ivy grows on the studio's facade.
At one end of the studio is a gabled wall of gridded steel windows with embedded lights and an operable door.
Small holes on the studio’s interior walls mark the places where the concrete form was tied together during the pouring process.
Steel hooks and bars keep shop tools like clamps and rulers in place.
The concrete welding shed is located behind the larger studio, wood shop, and art archive housed in an old barn remodeled by Berman Horn.
“The ivy softens the concrete of the building, but in a way makes it more apparent in the places where it remains visible,” said Berman.
To encourage the ivy, Berman Horn anchored a grid of stainless steel wire to the exterior walls to create a trellis for the vines.
The trellis was necessary in the beginning, said Berman, “but the ivy found its way pretty quickly.”
Because Boston ivy attaches to a surface with small suckers along its branches, it’s not destructive to the surface.