OCEAN HOME AWARDS BEST ARCHITECTURE FOLLY / OUTBUILDING: Inside the Award-Winning Treehouse Yoga Studio and Pool House Design

It was the landscape that inspired Doreve Nicholaeff’s design for a treehouse yoga studio and a pool house for a secluded property on Cape Cod Bay.

The two structures complement the topography and also serve as a counterpoint to the main house, which is Colonial in style.

The owners, who spend a great deal of time outdoors at this, their vacation home, wanted an all-season, sustainable space designed for a comfortable and enjoyable environment in their backyard that nods to nature.

Nicholaeff responded by creating two transparent structures that, she says, “hover above the land” and are “simple and have an intimate relationship” with their natural surroundings.

“We worked with the colors and textures of the surrounding trees and vegetation and nestled the architecture into the land,” she says.

The treehouse yoga studio, which is in a velocity zone, is designed to withstand the flow of water in a flood. It literally lives in the treetops, its deck incorporating one of the property’s existing oak trees. Its roof deck serves as an additional viewing platform.

“It feels quiet and serene,” she says. The pool house is a series of interconnected modules, including ones for reading and TV viewing, that are clad in natural materials and are FSC certified. Its sloped roof and NanaWalls are appointed with bronze and copper details that will patina with age.

Both structures use geothermal systems for heating and cooling, and the pool house has solar panels.

KEY SUPPLIERS; Architect: Doreve Nicholaeff Architecture; Contractor: JW Construction Inc.; Landscape Architect: Hawk Design Inc.; Landscape Contractor: Schumacher Landscaping; Interior Designer: Jessica Vaule

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT nicholaeff.com