Juxtaposition

The Floating Farmhouse post got me thinking.  Some of my favorite buildings are those that marry old and new without trying to create a contrived transition.  

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Le Musee du Louvre is the most obvious example, with its glass pyramid amidst the centuries old fortress.  

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My beloved Floating Farmhouse is another, with its kitchen extension highlighted by a curtain glass wall and polished concrete floor that are dramatically different from the original farmhouse.

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Frank Gehry House in Los Angeles preserves a 1920s pink Dutch Colonial farmhouse in the midst of graphic shapes made from industrial elements such as corrugated steel, glass, and chain link.  My favorite element is the plate glass window installed over the exposed beams in the deconstructed plaster wall in the attic.

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ten broeck cottage in Columbia County, New York is another fresh take on expanding a dutch farmhouse.   This time with a rectilinear CorTen steel addition that contains the kitchen, guest room, and and some other lesser used rooms.

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Richard Found's Cotswolds House is fronted by the original cottage listed on the historic register.  When he bought the property, city planners required that any renovation should have the stone cottage at the heart of the design.  The modern extension echos the cottage's building materials and is built into the surrounding hillside to create the illusion that it has always been there.