The following is an analysis and plan of a building I have designed to be a studio and deck, adjacent to an existing house located on several wooded acres. The structure can be dismantled, to be stored or moved.
The diagonal entrance, located on a corner, is situated to provide access to the house and to the garden and path which lead away from the studio. The porch entrance extends to become a deck (2 levels) which zigzags onto the land. Clay pots, sculpture and evergreens will be arranged on the deck. The studio and deck create an enclosed space which can be seen from the kitchen of the house.
Upon entering the studio the visitor will look ahead to a vista into the woods, created by a window in a diagonal wall which is parallel to the entrance. The nine foot wall will be the work area. Paintings in progress will hang there.
The interior becomes two spaces, one open and the other closed. The studio door opens to the left leaving the enclosed space unseen until the visitor has entered and turned around.
A loft bed or rest area and storage or shelves will be in the enclosed space with a skylight overhead. From that vantage point the work in progress can be studied.
The rest of the interior is immediately available to the visitor with exterior views ahead and to the right.
Some seating will be arranged on the thirteen foot wall which is shared by the open and enclosed spaces. The deck and garden will be seen from there. The seating will be out of the path to the work area. That path becomes “place” when the artist uses it to view the work from a distance.
The deck extends the studio to the exterior and reaches out to the land. It also obscures the foundation when approaching the studio from the garden path. The repeated low horizontal lines of the deck ground the structure which has strong vertical lines created by the diagonal slanting roof, long narrow windows and vertical siding.
A small stove will be located near the seating. A fan will be placed in the nine foot wall near the roof and all windows will open to provide ventilation. The floor will be covered with straw mat.
Natural light will be available from all angles. Artificial light will be mounted from the ceiling on either side of the dome for the work area and above the loft bed.
This project was accomplished during the 1984 Yale New Haven Teachers Institute with the guidance of Kent Bloomer who led the seminar series on architecture.