Small Wonder

On a quaint, tree-lined street in Berkeley, California, architect Sarah Deeds of Deeds Design and carpenter John McBride placed a 120-square-foot office/art studio near their main house, a renovated 1906 Victorian, on a 3,100-square-foot lot. “Since it was a design/build project, I had the luxury of changing the project as needed during construction,” says Deeds, who was able to easily accommodate unanticipated developments for the studio, which she planned as an irregular pentagon shape to maximize interior space. Deeds used salvaged and FSC-certified wood for the construction, formaldehyde-free fiberglass and denim insulation, a door left over from a previous project, and no-VOC paint, stains and finishes. Adding to what she calls the clubhouse feel, Deeds put in a large south-facing high window overlooking an existing deciduous California buckeye tree that provides shade in the summer, and painted a bright “burgee” detail atop the exterior, milled from a fallen tree. “It’s like a little fort,” says Deeds.

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Deeds, a lifelong sailboat racer, designed her own “burgee” atop the studio to brighten things up and “make it not look too architecty,” she says. The siding was applied as a rainscreen to cut down on the chances of woodrot. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

The glass-and-aluminum front door, from Loewen, was salvaged from another project. The windows are all-weather double-glazed aluminum. The landscaping and new path, which reaches back to the main house, are by Berkeley-based Matt Hornby Garden Design. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

The southern wall, which has the most exposure and faces the California buckeye tree, is integral to the studio’s passive solar heating. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

Frodo relaxes before a wood detail inspired by the concrete corner of architect Steven Holl’s Chapel of Saint Ignatius at Seattle University. “I call it the woven corner,” says Deeds. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

The couple’s family and housemates celebrate the completion of the studio. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

Embedded LED lighting allows the studio to glow at night. Image courtesy Deeds Design

Inside, Deeds created a wall-to-wall sofa (supported by a square steel tube) with storage drawers underneath. A single shelf provides more storage. “The thick insulation and the passive solar features perform wonderfully,” says Deeds. “The building is very comfortable without supplemental heat. When it is too cold I warm up the room by turning on a few lights and my computer, and sometimes I bring a large dog inside or do ten jumping jacks to generate some heat. Because of the insulation, the heat sticks around.” Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

The opposite end of the structure has a low clearance of five-feet, nine inches to reduce exterior volume and accommodate the roof pitch above the desk, which is curved so people can more easily interact at meetings, as opposed to sitting in a line at a straight edge of a table. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

Deeds hung a single Louis Poulsen PH5 lamp from the ceiling; its blue and red interior paint “is very friendly to human skin tones,” she says. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

The floor plan. Image courtesy Deeds Design

This architectural drawing shows the simple, efficient interior elevation.

The siteplan. Image courtesy Deeds Design

McBride, breaking ground.Image courtesy Deeds Design

The 30-percent Fly Ash foundation, with formwork and rebar. Image courtesy Deeds Design

The framing goes up. Image courtesy Deeds Design