THOMAS BARRIE ARCHITECT

The Architect’s Studio

Royal Oak, MI

AIA Honor Award 2002

Completed: 2002

Square footage: 400

Contractor: Design-build

Photographer: Gene Meadows

This small studio and garage was conceived and designed as a complement and completion of the rear garden of an urban single-family house. Within the small space issues such as approach, entry, orientation, vista, framed views, scale and the space-between were addressed. The 20’ x 20’ building occupies approximately one-half of the rear yard, a reciprocal act that created the building, garden and courtyard. The studio, oriented to the cardinal points, includes east and west facing windows that mark the diurnal pattern of the days, The north-facing studio space overlooks a garden, its surrounding wooden fence offering distant vistas inspired by the “borrowed landscape” of Japanese contemplative gardens. The pathway from the house traverses stones set in the concrete paving and inside a ladder ascends to a meditation space created by a shallow dormer.

Even though constrained by both size and budget, this diminutive space addressed broad design agendas. Through an articulation of the interrelationships of object and setting; path and place; space and vista; craft and design; it served as a medium to explore what might be described as enduring architectural issues.