Hi! I am working on a thesis for my architectural masters project right now and would love to get some opinions from anyone that can help me. My thesis statement is this: Adding living spaces to equestrian stables will create a safer and stronger relationship between horse and rider. Providing safety, and mental ease. My proposal is to add living units for riders to be next to their horses so that they can keep an eye on their horses, and these living units would have access to air conditioning, showers, toilets, and a good bed. I understand that this comes with questions of other riders being nearby and working with their horses either really late at night or early in the morning, excess noise from horses and people, and the issues of dirt and hygiene that come from staying so close to horses. However, sound and light from horses and other riders can be fixed through architectural design so I am not worried about those issues. I am looking for responses that have your personal opinions on staying overnight on the show grounds near your horse. I know this may be confusing, so here is a basic example of what I am thinking of designing for my thesis, except with more people and horses being together in a stable designā¦ https://www.designboom.com/readers/the-barn-house-taiki-cho-hokkaido-japan/
What an interesting thought for a thesis.
The linked stable design is more of a modular thing and not so much a large stable thing.
Also, the idea of having a rather large active compost inside my āhouseā makes me worry, since keeping molds and moisture at bay is a huge living issue where I am.
Keep in mind that showers and toilets require piping and piping has to be installed in a way that it will not freeze, which means you need to keep it on the conditioned side of the insulation, not just shoved into an insulated wall (unless you are building in a mild climate) (waste piping too, not just water).
I feel like the fire code would be kind of grumpy about this design too. Even fully sprinklered (which is hard in a livestock area because of the dust causing issues), how would all this work?
This seems like it would horribly increase the cost of renting a stall at a show, and the size of the facilities to include all this horse and living space.
I have slept in my truck at shows. I have slept in the tack stall at shows.
If the design will limit the noise and light of the barn area in the living space, how will the people in the living space be more aware of what the horses in the barn area are doing?
I can see this concept being quite popular, especially at more remote show grounds where itās a drive to a hotel. I know Chatt Hills has cabins for rent, and Stable View has rental units as well, so people without living quarters have an option for staying on grounds. IMO it greatly simplifies horse showing to be on grounds and not commuting back and forth to a hotel.
From the safety and connection standpointā¦I suppose having more people on the grounds overnight could have safety benefits (more people to potentially notice an emergency situation, more hands to help in a crisis, etc.), and extra handwalking or other time caring for the horse certainly isnāt going to hurt the horse/rider bond.
From a design standpoint, I would probably put maybe 4 living units together with stalls to either side like wings? Iād be leery of doing too many scattered units since you donāt know how large a group may be traveling together, so too regularly interspersed units makes assigning blocks of stalls more difficult.
Edited because I hadnāt read far enough through the linked information to see the composting idea - I wouldnāt try that in a show venue set up. For one thing, would require multistory barns, which is not typical for show stabling. I would stick to using traditional plumbing/septic systems.
Fire code is going to be a consideration - and may be part of why the venues that have rentals have them as separate buildings and not built as part of the barns. There is obviously a way to do it (hunt boxes, etc.) but may be more expensive than doing standalone rentals.
Keep the stable design the same.
Make the people facilities portable pods from standard size shipping containers 20 and 40 footers. That makes them portable and temporary so they can be easily moved by tractors the facility already has and no building permits required. They can be plug and play so that utilities - water and electric can be connected like an RV.
How do you intend to collect data and analyze the horse:rider bond and rider state of mental ease? I am particularly interested in what statistical analyses you will be using.
I am not sure if this is part of your research but another thing to think about is cost to build this unique feature versus what one will have to charge to make it a worthwhile project, and is that cost inline with the market you are aiming to use this feature?
In other words, are the high end owners going to want to stay on the grounds with their horse or be willing to pay for their groom to have this type of housing?
I thought of another thing, do the current show facilities have the infrastructure to accommodate the additional housing. Having enough electricity to run lights and some outlets is one thing, having housing there is another thing. Is the sewer system able to accommodate the added loads? Will pump stations be required? With the new requirements for storm water management is there acreage to treat the storm water?
This is super interesting!
I do know people love the onsite cabins at some horse show venues.
There is definitely a cost associated with it though.
I can say - I nannied and 1/2 lived in a āhouseā built over a barn. Iām a light sleeper & the bucket banging, wall kicking, whinnies, etc that happen over night was anything but relaxing or mind-easing when it happened. 
I would keep in mind that most horse show venues have only intermittent events. So they would be putting in a lot of expensive infrastructure that would go unused more than half the time at least and require deep cleaning before and after events. Plus the big venues around here expand with temporary stalls for big events.
Or big shows operate out of multi purpose fair ground complexes
Also think about the horse to human ratio. For each horse there are multiple people. Generally a rider per horse, but then coaches, groomās, and friends or family.
The other thing to consider is what people already do. Many camp in their gooseneck trailers. Others go to hotels. Some bring a recreational vehicle. Itās mostly grooms that are expected to sleep at the barn and they are lower ranking.
I think itās going to be very specific to the venue. Also if it has the land to waste on human habitation.
I think a combo barn and house is more a boutique personal thing, or for camping or glamping. You could bring modular housing into the covered area at a fairgrounds.
But a lot depends on price and return on investment. I might not pay more to stay in some sketchy rooms at a venue compared to going down the road to a motel.
Modeling something like this after the racetracks that offer housing seems like an easy parallel. Thereās no need to reinvent the wheel. There are plenty of examples out there already, with plenty of pitfalls and positives to explore.
Does your proposal only consider warm climates? I ask because you mention AC but not heat. You WOULDNāT want people bringing stuff like space heaters.
I really like the concept, but it seems show grounds are becoming less and less. Is it feasible to expect that existing showgrounds to completely overhaul their existing infrastructure or would this be a concept for new builds?
I canāt speak to that design specifically (others have offered great insights), but I will say that the showgrounds I frequent has an on site RV Park (not just a few hookups at the back of the barns) with a great bath house and it is full at every show. I bought a travel trailer and a second truck just to be able to stay on site at the show instead of getting a hotel/Airbnb. Being able to walk over to my trailer to get a snack, take a nap, walk the dog, and get a margarita at the end of the day 
is invaluable. It also makes 6am feed times and 11pm night check easy. I can make coffee in my trailer and walk to my stalls in 5 minutes. I feel better knowing that there are more people around and Iām incredibly close in case of emergency.
I showed a few years ago where the closest accommodations for myself and my dogs were 40 minutes away and I hated every minute of it. I actually wonāt show there again because it was so inconvenient.
I love the idea of making shows more friendly for competitors, but Iād be concerned about all of the riders coexisting when they are being housed in the barn. Horse show drama is bad when just the horses live together, I canāt imagine adding in a dorm like situation where Becky gets mad at Karen because her horse kicked the wall half the night, and Karen is mad right back at Becky because she brought along her dog that barked for hours on end. What I think would be great though, is pods, cabins, or rooms adjacent to the stables that are designed specifically to foster a sense of community amongst competitors by incorporating a lot of common areas, but still give riders their own space away from the barn to unwind if they need it.
Architect and horseperson here! Is your project expected to be hypothetically buildable, or are you designing in a utopian horseworld where you can take more license? If practical, look at examples like the Wellington International. Itās extremely high density, by necessity.
Defining the permanence would be helpful to you. Maybe someone here will think of other scenarios than what I have listed below.
Permanent Structures (barns on foundations) for temporary use. The barns are permanent, but the users of the barns turnover with new competitors for each show/program throughout the season. This has the advantage of being able to share utilities.
Temporary Structures (stalls that are made out of tents) that are erected on the show grounds without being permanently constructed on a foundation. The tent-stalls are disassembled at the end of the show season. Users turnover throughout the season.
Hybridā¦permanent structures for the horses and mobile living quarters for the human competitors. The riders take their trailers home with their horses after the show. That has the advantage of independent utilities in the living quarters of the trailer.
Turnout spaces like in the link you shared arenāt feasible for more than a few individuals at showgrounds. Square footage is too much of a premium.
Horses are, in general, more soothed by sharing the company of other horses rather than humans, so Iād consider rewording your thesis. Also, remember that the owner/rider is sometimes not the person directly caring for the horse. That might fall to the groom, for example.
What I might design, if this were my project, would be a two story barn where the human living-pods are on the 2nd floor, with direct access and visibility of the horse in the stall below. Communal plumbing/facilities on that 2nd floor.
All great input. The most important thing to consider is who are the humans occupying said space and what do they need? Horse show horse owners often have significantly different wants/needs than the hired horse help that the owners are paying for. And oftenānot trying to start a war hereādifferent standards in caring for property that isnāt theirs. If you are the owner of said property, Iād be concerned with insurance costs, replacement costs, and ongoing legal liability costs.
I just slept in the tack stall.
My horse doesnāt want me in his hair obsessing over him 24/7.
Human stabling on the grounds of the horse stabling is great. My favorite āsleeping on the groundsā experience did involve having real bathrooms! But Iād prefer an RV or separated unit. Itās not just an issue of fire code (thatās a big ājust.ā) Also consider things like lighting and noise. Show stabling often has lighting at all hours and the sounds of people and horses going in and out, which is not conducive to anyone sleeping, including the horses. Conversely, people are going to add light and noise pollution over the horsesā heads in a lofted building like the one shown, which could also be distracting to the horses. At a horse show, the stabling needs to be set up with the horses in mind (yes, I know, I know) and adding human stabling in the same place to serve the humansā emotional needs doesnāt give the horse a comfortable place to relax and decompress from dealing with our nonsense all day.
Look into Grand Oaks in Ocalaā¦ I believe their concept is very close to yoursā¦ I showed there once and it was great!!
This really sounds like a solution in search of a problem, and given that itās a thesis, I guess that works.
Most of what you want to offer can be found in a tack stall, even the air conditioning.
I feel bad for the horses because any owner Iāve met that would be interested in sleeping in barn with their horse is a bit neurotic and they need more separation rather than more togetherness.
Or poor, you forgot the poor option. That is why I slept in my truck or in the tack stall at horse shows, I was poor and that is a huge money savings.
Iāll cop to being neurotic, but I did it because it was cheaper than a hotel.
