Houzz Tour: Cabin Studios in the Landscape

When an active couple wanted to include more living space to their picturesque Mill Valley house, they chose to take full advantage of the setting. So they immersed themselves in the landscape by constructing two little hillside cabins.

The two cabins integrate the creative dreams of landscape architect Jori Hook and architect Jonathan Feldman, who used the native scene and creative personalities of their homeowners as inspiration. The end result is a whimsical refuge that bows in reverence into California’s beauty.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

Feldman meant for the architecture to speak softly, as a quiet intervention from the landscape. The design is understated but hot, and preserves the natural texture of the website.

The customers are “inventive and passionate people with a deep appreciation of where they live,” Hook says. Everything in the roofline to the substance choices has a cheery lightness meant to reflect the characters of the owners.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

Feldman used natural gaps between trees to pick locations for the cottages. The structures seem like discoveries rather than impositions on the landscape.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

Inside the first cabin, that serves as a personal yoga studio, the entire south wall opens into the hillside, embracing the trees and sunshine.

Situated on a southeast-facing slope, the cottages receive the sun’s first rays in the morning. “In earth-based civilizations, East is considered a place of inspiration,” Hook says. “What better place to locate a artwork and writing studio?”

The upper cabin functions as a painting studio.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

The ascent from the main house into the cottages was designed to reflect and respect the special uses of the cottages by concealing them from a redwood tree-lined pathway. “These cottages are sacred places for the customers to produce their work, so the transition from the main house was quite important,” Hook says. Just once the customer reaches the cottages are that they truly presented.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

Hook implemented aspects of Mill Valley’s Mount Tamalpais to her style. From the vegetation of the mountain into the boulder-strewn terrain, the overall website reflects the flora of the mountain and Marin as a whole.

“I take an educated and instinctive way to the systems at drama, whether it’s soils, slopes, grand trees or remarkable vegetation, or even the orientation into sunlight,” Hook says. “I visit the roof as a microcosm of the slopes of Mount Tam. The layout turned into a living mosaic, representing the variety of plants and plant communities on Mount Tam.”

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

The roof’s role in both the landscape and structure of the website and layout is a unique facet of this project. Because of the essential terracing, the roof of the lower cabin (the yoga studio), is the initial site experience.

The green roof is really the curb appeal of the property — the first facade of the design. Hook took this opportunity to treat the roof as a canvas, even more than a typical green roof, and made it as a living piece of artwork, filled with succulents and other plants found throughout the project.

“Anything living thrives on attention,” Hook says, but “I try to supply a garden where the upkeep is a labor of love and not a constant toil.” Understanding site-specific microclimates makes plant selection easier and ensures a layout will be more in sync with the website. Hook pressures a plant palette naturally adapted to the surroundings is very likely to require less upkeep and be more effective.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

Navigating and accessing the 20-foot grade change of the property was shown to be Hook’s main challenge. Extensive grading was something the designers the homeowners needed for the website, and supposed that little space could be left to style an actual garden. “The opportunities and limitations of a project, though sometimes in opposition, tend to be the driving forces of the design,” Hook says.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

The grade of the website created naturally different experiences in the landscape, and the route itself reflects those changes. Steeper parts of the site require quicker and more direct movement, meaning less space to meander or leisurely take from the website. After the out grade levels, the paths are widened, creating more chances to respect the vistas or take a seat on a nearby boulder.

Feldman Architecture, Inc..

For a project with such extensive architectural and structural components, the natural landscape and terrain of the site played an extremely significant role. The prominence of the green roofs and the insertion of the buildings into the landscape emphasize that in this layout, the landscape remains the focus. The thoughtful and seemingly understated implementation on both landscape and architecture leaves Feldman content with the “incorporated, respectful, subservient and quiet” structure of the cottages, and Hook hoping that with every trip, traffic to the website will “walk off satiated with nature’s beauty and their place within it.”

Photography by Joe Fletcher
General Contractor: JP Builders, Inc..

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