Rising star Brent Buck crafts a 4,400-square-foot family retreat that melds with the rolling landscape

Designed by Brent Buck Architects, a recently completed house in Millerton, New York, riffs on traditional barns.

Architect Brent Buck first met Whit Bernard and Freya Zaheer in a cornfield wearing a flannel shirt. The Brooklyn-based couple wanted his opinion before purchasing the 20-acre property in Millerton, New York, where they envisioned building a weekend retreat for themselves, their three young sons, and their frequent guests. On that Sunday, Buck’s “upstate dad” look (in his words) made a good impression. “We thought Brent was this low-key local talent,” says Bernard, who had been referred to the architect by a Connecticut-based friend whose house Buck had designed.…