Though the retreat is clearly meant to afford the solitude writing so often requires, Kathleen reports that "it's very lively. Deer approach, birds bathe. The sun warms my desk and you can hear the rain."

Mint green-painted ironwork and tiles connect the indoors to the outside more fluidly.

The Max-A studio is also built with a pine frame, though it has pine panelling on the ceiling, while the main house ceiling is painted a warm white.

Erin Moore of FLOAT Architectural Research and Design, based in Tucson, Arizona, designed a 70-square-foot writer’s retreat in Wren, Oregon, for her mother, Kathleen Dean Moore, a nature writer and professor of philosophy at nearby Oregon State University. The elder Moore wanted a small studio in which to work and observe the delicate wetland ecosystem on the banks of the Marys River. Enlisting her daughter’s design expertise, her professor husband’s carpentry savoir faire, the aid of friends, and a front loader, Kathleen and her crew erected the structure in September 2007. Photo by Gary Tarleton. Totally off the grid—–Kathleen forgoes the computer and writes by hand when there—–the Watershed was designed to tread as lightly on the fragile ecosystem as the wild turkeys and Western pond turtles that live nearby. “

99 by Von Tundra and Lydia Cambron $13,000 Oregon-based Von Tundra’s unit combines three different storage options—a rack, drawers, and boxes—into a multipurpose dresser.

Faux timber doors, painted black, along with a brick facade help the dwelling blend with its surroundings: the Victorian homes of the Moseley neighborhood in Birmingham, UK.

This small writer's retreat on San Juan Islands, Washington completely exposes the interior to the site’s impressive island views. Photo by: Tim Bies

Carol A. Wilson Architect, WRITER’S STUDIO

The Vermont-based Jamaica Cottage Shop built this 132-square-foot writer's retreat using a super durable timber-frame approach. Copyright Jamaica Cottage Shop.

Formerly a magazine editor in New Zealand and London, Sam Eichblatt moved to New York in 2012 to write about architecture, travel, and food for international publications, and work as contributing editor to HOME magazine of New Zealand. For “A Matter of Truss," she revisited an old friend: Eichblatt and resident Nicole Stock previously sat three desks away from each other while working on the kiwi design title Urbis.

Based in Chicago, writer Patrick Sisson appreciated the personal touches throughout the Hufft house, especially how the kitchen, living room, and outdoor space flowed together. “While utilizing custom fabrication certainly led to a more personalized home, it was evident that signature touches, like the framed drop cloth on the upper level, went beyond functional to speak to the family’s history and day-to-day lifestyle,” he says.

The home's rear is thoroughly modern. Blue bricks, salvaged from the preexisting building, are now the pavers in the entrance and patio.

For Lance Hosey, aesthetic attraction isn’t a superficial concern—it’s an environmental imperative. The author of The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design will join us onstage for a talk that proposes new and groundbreaking ways to bridge the gap between "good design" and "green design."

Taking a quote from writer Alain de Botton as inspiration --“ There are many places in the modern world that we do not understand because we cannot get inside them” -- the Writers in Residence series will journey into the heart of the modern condition, beginning with Another Great Day at Sea (May 20), which chronicles life aboard the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier.

This writer’s studio features ample lighting and carefully chosen windows and openings—essential elements of an uplifting she shed or other outbuildings.

Bezar, a new e-commerce site by Fab co-founder Bradford Shellhammer, operates on a short-term sales model to connect emerging designers with online shoppers. With no product on sale for more than a week, each transaction is special and frees up digital shelf space to showcase more designers’ work. Shellhammer hopes the rapid rotation will lend upstart designers the exposure they need to compete in a crowded marketplace. He’ll join us on the J Geiger Stage Saturday at 2:00 p.m. to talk about championing the independent designer and the new face of design mentorship in the technological age.

Essayist Geoff Dyer (“among the best on the planet,” The New York Times) and award-winning photographer Chris Steele-Perkins will take readers into the floating fortress, profiling the crew and seeking to wrap their heads around the massive battleship.

Future additions to the series include a look inside the IMF with Liaquat Ahamed and a tour of the technology firm Alcatel-Lucent with Douglas Coupland. If access is power, these books could be revolutionary.

Milwaukee studio Vetter Denk Architects designed this eye-catching prefab on the banks of Moose Lake, Wisconsin, as a weekend retreat. The home was based on an idea presented by the home's owner, who was inspired by a screw-top jug of $9.99 red wine.

The curved wall is just as pleasing of a detail when experienced on the inside of the writer's studio.