Most artists if pressed could produce their work in a bathroom, adapting to their means. Our client wanted a space that would call her to create, while providing a connection to her family that could easily be broken and reestablished. We found inspiration in the spirals of the nautilus, sweeping from the main house we tucked the studio in between existing site constraints.

Our building provides a calm space for reflection and work but with possibilities for spontaneity. Outside, where the shape of the roof implies a passing breeze or a rolling wave, conversations and camaraderie are a natural occurrence on the front porch and continuing around the building in dappled light to a hidden terrace. Reminiscent of antiquity, thick AAC (aerated autoclave concrete) masonry walls ground the building and with age will continue to meld into the landscape.

When it’s time to get to work, our textile artist retreats inside where glulam beams stretch in broad arcs capturing and bouncing natural light into the workspace. The proximity to the existing house and sight lines to play areas maintain a tenuous family connection, while strategically placed block walls provide privacy. Split into dry and wet, the open workspaces are utilized by using custom designed wheeled furniture to change the space to suit each task.

Our design works with color, texture, and pattern using a straightforward pallet of masonry to ground the building to the site and our artist to her studio; while wood glulams left the eyes and imagination, inspiring our artist to create.