This Off-Grid Design Studio Feels Like It’s Floating in a Forest

Woodland views take center stage in this backyard office crafted from cedar, glass, and concrete.

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Sharon and Mike Matas’s backyard studio in Healdsburg, California, feels less like an office and more like a tree house. "The design allows the owners to work fully immersed in a forest of Douglas fir, madrone, and oak trees," says architect Robert Swatt of Swatt Miers Architects.

Robert Swatt of Swatt Miers Architects designed this off-grid studio in Healdsburg with glass walls that provide the feeling of working in nature.

A ceiling and floor made from western red cedar pay tribute to the forested landscape.

Supported by a pair of extra-wide, cast-in-place concrete pillars, the net-zero, off-grid studio cantilevers over a steep wooded hillside. "Out of respect for the beauty of the site, one of our earliest goals was to keep the architecture light on the land," Swatt says. "The structure is partially located above a level pad, and partially over a decline. The floor is lifted so it hovers above the ground, allowing the land and nature to remain untouched."

Sunlight pours through the surrounding treetops, illuminating the forest floor and the interior of the studio.

Extra-wide concrete pillars help to support the studio at its core.

Sharon, a graphic designer and illustrator, and Mike, an interface designer and entrepreneur, met at Apple in San Francisco before moving to a 10-acre off-grid home in wine country. They wanted a remote studio for conducting research and creating without distraction; a place that didn’t just offer views of nature, but that felt woven into it. "We envisioned a design studio where we could work [while being] deeply connected to the environment," Mike says.

The studio cantilevers over a steep hillside, making it feel a bit like a tree house.

One of the concrete supports rises from a steep hillside.

The 648-square-foot studio’s structure consists of concrete and glass walls capped by a western red cedar ceiling and floor. The glass blurs the distinction between the interior and the woodland, and the cedar references the trees, while supplying texture and warmth.

The glass walls frame large expanses of greenery.

Sharon and Mike Matas use the studio to design, create, and research.

Sharon and Mike wanted the landscape surrounding the studio to feel native and wild—for it to blend, like the studio’s architecture, with the woodland. So, they commissioned Bernard Trainor and David LeRoy of Ground Studio Landscape Architecture to rewild the site.

The studio is furnished with a massive wood table, a sofa, and built-in western red cedar shelves.

Like the flooring and the shelves, the window frames are crafted from western red cedar.

The board-formed concrete structure frames built-in shelving.

Trainor and LeRoy devised a natural courtyard between the studio and the house with an edgeless pool sunken into a native meadow. They placed stone pavers in an imperfect path between the main house, the meadow, the pool, and the studio. "The landscape draws us outside and encourages movement throughout the day," Sharon says.

Sharon and Mike Matas work at large wood table in the studio while their daughter plays.

A drawing  reflects the surrounding forested landscape. — A drawing reflects the surrounding forested landscape.

Trainor and LeRoy carefully protected key existing trees—primarily oaks and madrones—and worked to restore the native plant communities that once grew on the site (before being removed by previous owners). "This included large areas of seasonally changing ferns and grasses, along with a supporting cast of understory shrubs," Trainor says. LeRoy adds, "All remnants of the previous garden, which was comprised mostly of water-loving exotics, were removed."

Just outside the studio, Ground Studio Landscape Architecture created a natural courtyard with a meadow and an edgeless pool that mimics a pond.

"The studio has an innate connection to the surrounding landscape from both inside and out," Mike says. "With dappled light changing throughout the day, it’s a magical, energizing place for creating art and design."