Chicken Coops and Confessionals: The "Functional Sculpture" of Urban Outbuilders

If you’re just looking for an ordinary shed for your backyard, Kyle Burke of Urban Outbuilders might not be right for you.

For starters, Burke is not what you might expect in a designer and builder. He has a degree in Sanskrit from Bard College, and speaks four languages. He spends his winter months as a guide in the Himalayas, working with preservation NGOs and laying the groundwork for future building projects there. His first major building project was a villa in Bali, which he built with local builders at the age of 18.

Sponsored By Urban Outbuilders

Urban Outbuilders is a full service design+build firm, specializing in outdoor structures for gardens, rooftops, and public spaces.

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Accordingly, his buildings are far from ordinary. Urban Outbuilders specializes in what Burke calls “functional sculpture,” projects that are as aesthetically powerful as they are functional. He’s built everything from a rhombus-shaped chicken coop, to a yoga deck, to 6000-square-foot modular buildings that required 25-ton cranes to put together. The company is committed to “personal and global health,” reusing locally salvaged materials as much as possible, and avoiding toxic and unsustainable materials.

Burke loves working on these personal projects, but his vision for Urban Outbuilders is to do more large-scale, commercial designs — shared spaces, rooftops for condo towers, restaurant and bar interiors, or outdoor spaces for businesses.

“The goal would be to create an eden of gorgeous woodwork, plants, and spaces that are functional yet beautiful, all sustainably designed and engineered,” says Burke. “A 21st century urban agrarian paradise is the idea here.”

A worthy goal, to be sure — and no doubt we’ll be seeing some of those large-scale projects in the near future. In the meantime, click through to see a “greatest hits” of Urban Outbuilders’ backyard masterpieces, with Kyle Burke’s own notes about each piece.

Confessional

“This building started out as a 7′ x 2.5′ tool shed, but during construction, the owner liked the space so much that he couldn’t bear to put tools in it. Instead, we added a second door and a bar. The bar is removable, but as far as I know, it has never been removed.”

Goat Shed

“Originally built by a post­-war German immigrant in the fifties, for thirty years this building housed two goats, which were used to mow the lawn. It’s full of odd Bavarian framing details. The current owner now uses it to have an occasional smoke.”

Rhombus Coop

“This is what happens when you tell me to build something that can house four hens.”

Sauna

“Properly orienting four angled posts on a circular structure is as hard as it sounds.

“And for all you hot tub owners­­: wood­-fired saunas cost nothing to maintain, and they do not require a degree in chemistry to ride the line between a spirulina farm and a bleach bath. Further, they do not run up heinous electric bills, and just six pieces of wood fires them for one and a half hours.”

Shed/bar

“Don’t let the order of the words mislead you as to which of this building’s functions is more popular.

“Immediately after the posts went up, the zoning board issued a stop­ work order. As there was a temporary platform right above the door, but no roof framing, no one could figure out what it was. Everyone who walked by, including the mailman, asked what the building was for. Tired of explaining the situation, I started giving a two-­word answer: midget gallows.”

Yoga Platform

“This building was constructed out of the remnants of several older farm buildings that were taken down and stacked in the barn behind. Built during the dark days of the recession, I built it almost entirely singlehandedly. It contains a vast array of material, from 275-year-old hewn pieces to massive laminate beams from the 1980s.”

Deck

“The owner’s subtle way of telling us to hurry up was by putting all of the furniture in place after we wrapped up each day.”

Shed

“‘We like your work, but we want something that doesn’t look too strange.’”

Tiki Bar

“The owner of the Confessional, who runs a hedge fund, decided he needed a place to have a drink with more than one person. Perhaps the most satisfying moment of my career came when he asked if he could help. I had him dig the post holes, and mix 2,400 lbs. of concrete as we set the posts.”

Writer’s Retreat

“According to the wife of the owner of this building, he has not written so much as a haiku in it.”

Himalayan Selfie

“The owner of a guesthouse at 11,000 ft. This guy was more or less an 80-year-old Tibetan Lebowski.”

To speak with Kyle about Urban Outbuilders designing and building your next project you can contact him here.

Kyle is also organizing an earthquake rebuilding project in Nepal, one which aims to introduce Earthship design to Nepal on a mass scale. To learn more about the project, or about taking a trek in the Himalayas, click here.