Professor Builds His Dream House on Organic Farm
September 21, 2020
Professor Eugene Kwak
Maybe you read recently about Professor Eugene Kwak in The New York Times. No, the article isn’t about an award or academic achievement. It’s about a house Kwak designed and built on a 16-acre property in Crawford, in the Hudson Valley, as a getaway from the Manhattan apartment he shares with his wife, Claire Ko.
Kwak, an architect and member of the Architecture and Construction Management Department, didn’t just build a house, though. He built a two-family he shares with a farming family, with a unit for Kwak, and loft for the tenants. The house and farm even have a name: Togather.
You could say Kwak’s dream began at Union Square Greenmarket in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he acquired both a taste for, and fascination with, fruits and vegetables grown on upstate organic farms.
“As we gained in-depth knowledge of the local farms,” Kwak says, “we felt the need to have a more empirical understanding, which led us to volunteer at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture [Tarrytown], participate in many farm-related events, and network with a wide range of organizations. This fruitful experience solidified our vision to support local farmers, while providing a place for us to have a farm-to-table living experience.
“As an architect, I wanted to use my skill set to create an innovative model that combines farming, beautiful and environmentally responsible design, the solutions to fight climate change, and provide better food system.
“We believe that people have an innate desire for a bucolic lifestyle, and our project can serve as a scalable model, viable precedent for urbanites, and a creative way to empower local farming communities.”
Photo of house by Jeff Cate.
