Article from the Lafayette Journal and Courier  Sunday, July 6, 2003 Unique barn project raises eyebrows as well as rafters By Kevin Cullen, Journal and Courier NEAR BUCK CREEK -- Indiana once had 300 round barns, more than any other state. About 100 remain.       At 4263 Indiana 25 N., a new one is being built for Wandering Acres LLC, whose principal owners are Dennis and Wanda Owen. It is the largest round barn in Indiana and it will house horses.       “I’m going to get that horse I never got as a kid,” says Mrs. Owen, who lives nearby. She has three ponies and five goats, but is planning to buy full-sized horses and miniatures.       The structure sits on 100 acres, and “because of its distinctive look, we expect (it) to be a landmark,” she says.       Pat Glon, of P.L. Glon Consulting in West Lafayette, coordinated the design and is managing the project. FBi Buildings, of Remington, is building the 11,401-square-foot structure. The cost is not being disclosed.       Work on the three-story, wood-frame building began in mid-April. Framing started May 15. Completion is set for Aug. 20.       The barn is white with a green roof. Unlike most old ones, the walls are quite low; most of the height is in the roof, which is being covered in 10,000 square feet of shingles.       Inside, looking up, the intricate geometry of the wooden framing resembles a snowflake.       Windows surround the first floor, another feature not usually found in old barns.       “It’s a striking, dramatic design that’s visually exciting,” says Kurt Williams, FBi project developer.       There will be 10 horse stalls inside, a 14-foot-wide rubberized indoor track around the first-floor perimeter, offices, tack room, washing area, hayloft, storage areas and a third-story windowed walkway.       When the cupola is added, the barn will stand 50 feet high. That’s 20 feet shorter than the 1912 J. S. Clendenning round barn near Mulberry, one of the tallest in the state.       The Wandering Acres barn, 104 feet in diameter, is two feet wider than the widest round barn in all of Hoosierdom. The Clendenning barn is 66 feet wide.       In this 1993 book, A Round Indiana: Round Barns in the Hoosier State, John Hanou noted that round barns always were   rare; only about one-fifth of 1 percent of all Hoosier farms ever had one.             During their heyday in the early 1900s, such buildings were status symbols and the mark of progressive farmers. A round barn required fewer materials, had a hay mow that was easier to fill, wasted no space and was more wind resistant than a rectangular barn.       With no heavy timber framing, the interiors were more airy and useable. Most of the old ones had a circular silo inside, and the distinctive, wedge-shaped stalls.       The Owens simply “liked the look of the round barn. They could have built anything they wanted to, but they wanted a round barn,” Glon says.       When the project was first discussed, “I got all excited and thought about how much fun it would be,” he says.       It has been fun, and challenging, too.       Glon studied round barns built by the Amish in northern Indiana to gain insights into their construction.       “The layout was pretty challenging,” he says. “You have a circle and radiuses, so it’s just very difficult to get the geometry to work out right.”       A century ago, carpenters bent and nailed thin boards to form the circle. In new construction, a series of wedge-shaped sections form a structure that is not truly “round,” but it appears to be.       The health, comfort and well-being of the horses were prime considerations.       “You have to be careful, because horses require certain environmental conditions,” Glon says.       For instance, fresh air will enter through the ground-level windows, circulate through the stalls and exit at the top of the building. Stalls are easy to clean and are being built of wood, to limit microbial growth. Chutes allow hay to be dropped from the hayloft above.       “It’s been pretty interesting. I’ve never done one before,” says Tony Deno, foreman for FBi Buildings, Inc. “It’s a lot tougher to lay it out, because there’s nothing to square off of.       There’s 28 corners instead of four.”       Most modern buildings have factory-made trusses. The round barn has rafters made of long 2-by-10 inch boards, each carefully measured and cut on site.       “It’s been fun to build,” Deno says. “Not the same old, same old.” Added note from Rich Conrad: “I might add that the design and the plans for the barn were prepared by myself and my associates, RICHARD L. CONRAD & ASSOC., inc, Lafayette, IN. The structural design was engineered by Matt Holbrook PE of Indianapolis, IN. Pat Glon was the construction manager and did a wonderful job of overseeing the construction of the structure. FBI was simply a subcontractor.”