9 Small Studios Where Writers and Artists Can Get Creative
When doing creative work, having a small studio away from your main home is a great way to free yourself from the distractions and obligations of day-to-day living. With your very own creative space, perhaps you’ll be ready to write or paint that masterpiece you’ve been imagining.
Take a look at these eight sheds, huts, cottages, and cabins that help writers and artists get into the zone.
Writer’s Cabin in Asker, Norway
This 172-square-foot cabin by Oslo-based architects Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS Arkitekter MNAL has boundaries that are defined by an underground pipeline, as well as the height lines of the terrain. The cabin has windows and doors that are strategically positioned to prevent people from being able to look inside it, while offering the writer scenic views of the outdoors.
This 1930s black timber shed near the town of Eichgraben in Austria was converted by Vienna practice Franz & Sue into a writing studio, playhouse, and guest room. It's accessed through a trapdoor, with a fully glazed gable that looks out to the treetops.
With a facade made of recycled slate tiles that were reclaimed from nearby farms, this writer’s retreat on the edge of Snowdonia National Park in Mid Wales offers not only plenty of solitude, but also natural inspiration, thanks to the lush green valleys and windswept hills of the Welsh countryside. It was designed by Sydney-based architecture firm TRIAS.
Tokyo-born, UK-based architect Nozomi Nakabayashi created this hut in a Dorset forest for a writer client. The small tree house-style hut is built with Douglas fir and locally sourced western red cedar, with interiors filled with birch plywood, cork insulation, and a hessian fabric ceiling.
Located close to the main house in a Sydney suburb, this garden studio and gallery space is where an artist couple work. With this art shed, Australian practice Panovscott established an internal gallery-quality environment for the production and contemplation of art.
Writer and journalist Bruce Porter’s off-the-grid getaway on an island off the coast of Maine was designed by his architect daughter—the founder of her own practice called Alex Scott Porter Design. Sited close to the water, it has a screen porch that's angled to capture direct southern exposure for the solar panels.
Another writer’s studio designed by Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS Arkitekter MNAL, this 161-square-foot cottage in the garden of an Oslo suburban home functions as a writing space for its owners. It features full glazing on its north facade in order to draw in ample natural light.
For a painter who wanted a workspace that would be like a blank canvas, this unusual zinc-clad prefab on the western coast of Scotland is lined with a simple birch-plywood interior, which is ideal, as the plywood can be easily removed and replaced when covered in paint.
When San Francisco-based architect Beverly Choe took on the project of re-envisioning an old garage (once used as a carriage house that had become a dark and empty space), she sought to create an open and meditative backyard studio where a family can easily retreat to work, relax, and create—with a goal of making it a "box of suffused light." The result is a light-filled space where the members of the family can paint, read, and do remote work.
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