Yoga Studio

The yoga studio was conceived as a modern interpretation of a Japanese Tea House perched at the edge of a dry pond amidst a traditional walking garden. Many of the design and construction elements abstractly reference traditional Japanese woodworking and construction techniques. The studio is lifted above the ground by two large carrying beams providing the sense that the structure is floating at the edge of the stone pond. The studio itself is designed as a glass lantern, wrapped by a wooden screen. The sliding glass doors extend the studio space onto a deck proportioned for yoga mats. The glass windows wrap the corners of the studio allowing uninterrupted views into the garden and highlight special existing trees at the periphery. The lantern effect is most evident at the rear of the studio where the Ipe screen passes in front of two operable windows that provide ventilation, and illuminate from within at night. The proportions of the wood screen itself change shape to allow more air and light into the rear of the studio. The western red cedar ceiling of the studio creates a plane that extends from the exterior to the interior of the glass wall. As the ceiling plane translates from the exterior to the interior, passing the glass wall, the plane shifts above the structure exposing the cedar joists and allowing us to install indirect lighting within the studio. The design of the gardens was carefully crafted and installed by Land Design Associates and the Owners to create this spectacular backyard oasis in the center of sub-urban Newton, Massachusetts.