Telfair studio was commissioned by an artist who paints large-scale landscape paintings. We wondered whether the building could also evoke landscape, and express a resonance between the work being produced inside the studio and the surrounding context.

The artist works on several paintings at a time, in the round, incorporating similar tones into each series. While she requires mostly opaque walls, the studio offers calculated views to the outside without allowing direct sunlight to enter the space. These vertical openings frame a single view through the building, toward a lone grove of river birch trees. The main source of natural light, two large banks of skylights, frame the sky.

Set in a food zone, the studio floor sits 30” above grade and extends to a wooden deck that floats just above the tall native grasses. We created a deep-set eave, invoking the horizon, while the anodized aluminum roof evenly reflects the sky. Below the eave are blackened cedar walls, mimicking the dark wooded trees that backdrop the building.