Ryan Post confided to his brother-in-law that he wanted to create a building for his psychotherapy practice on the 75-acre plot in Little Compton, Rhode Island, where he lives with his wife and three children, but had no idea how to begin. His brother-in-law, who is an architect, offered this insight: Find someone as excited as you are about the project.

Enter Jason Wood, principal and founder of local design/build firm, from [in] form. “He asked what my therapy process was like at our first meeting,” Ryan says. “I knew right away there would be reciprocity.”

Ryan, who had spent most of his career working with clients outdoors, had been confined to urban offices in recent years. As such, he was eager to return to his roots. His nature-based approach, which requires connecting with the land, drove the design. “Some people need to walk before they can open up; some grab sticks and beat trees; others want to burn childhood mementos in a fire,” Ryan says. “The land itself becomes the therapist.”

Walking the property numerous times helped Ryan and Wood settle on a site—a field near a puddingstone that Ryan felt drawn to. It’s far enough away from the family’s house to ensure privacy, but is by no means remote. Ryan preferred to situate the cabin on the fringe of the wilds, which he considers sacred, rather than to disrupt it.

Early inspirations for the cabin’s form included fire lookout towers, which had long fascinated Ryan, as well as corncribs, which are ubiquitous in Rhode Island farm country. Wood cites lean-to shelters like those found on hiking trails as a major driver of the design, too. Like a lean-to, the cabin is an intermediary space between home and nature. In addition, its stance complements Ryan’s mission of providing stability for clients. “The cabin looks to be leaning into the earth,” Wood says. “It’s an effort to make the visitor feel grounded.”

Once they park in the grassy field, clients walk past trees and stone walls to reach the gravel path that leads to the therapy cabin. It’s a stark contrast to the traditional mode of stumbling unawares into an anonymous waiting room. “It’s a wonderful experience,” Ryan says. “Even clients that hate therapy show up early.”

In wintertime, stacks of firewood shield the shou sugi ban–treated Douglas fir facade, protecting it against the north wind. “The act of stacking wood and starting a fire solidifies the reason for being here,” the architect says. By summer, the firewood is gone; an evolution he likens to a seasonal strip tease.

Inside, kindling lines a wall behind a cast-iron, wood-burning stove. There’s a sleeping loft above, accessible by a mahogany ladder slotted into the concrete floor. While the cabin functions primarily as Ryan’s office, it’s also a destination for family adventures. “We set up tents for the kids and friends, and my wife sleeps in the loft with the baby,” Ryan says.

Shop The Look

Three sets of French doors open atop a bench onto a deck, blurring the line between indoors and out by providing expansive views of, and access to, the hay fields and the forest beyond. Off to one side, Ryan’s desk is tucked into a window that slants dramatically downwards. It frames the field where hay grows slowly, and then during the harvest, changes swiftly and drastically.

The floor, a brilliant display of swirling, electric blue concrete, was a shock. Although Ryan was on board with Wood’s assertion that the floor needed color, he hadn’t been expecting such a dramatic statement. The first time he saw it his jaw dropped. “He was not kidding when he said blue. It was way far beyond what we imagined,” Ryan says. Within a week, he had embraced it. “At this point, if it wasn’t there, it would be like, 'Oh man we really missed out,'” he says.

Everything on Ryan’s wish list is accounted for. That they occur differently than he imagined delights him. “Like therapy, it’s a co-creative process without a recipe,” he says. “How it unfolds will be a surprise.”

Related Reading:

This Corn Crib Guesthouse Honors Agrarian Architecture

An Idyllic Rhode Island Summer Cottage Is the Perfect Escape for a New York Family

Project Credits:

Architect: from [in] form / @frominform (Jason Wood, designer and foreman; Rachel Stopka, designer and project manager; Tristan Mead, builder; Shou Jie Eng, designer)

Builder: from [in] form

Structural Engineer: Structures Workshop, Erik Nelson

Civil Engineer: Able Engineering, Don Medieros

Landscape Design: from [in] form, Jason Wood

Lighting Design: from [in] form, Jason Wood

Other: Nat Rea Photography

Appears In

A Therapist’s Cabin in Rhode Island Invites Nature Into His Practice