Joanne Koch — Architect

“Today, there is a great need for an architecture that not only invites us in but simultaneously takes us out into the vast and restorative qualities of nature.”

— Joanne Koch, architect


The home’s steep hillslope site, now enhanced by large floor-to-ceiling windows, gives the west-facing rooms a distinctive floating quality, as if one is suspended between the branches of the adjacent tree canopies. Sugar pine floors and rustic pine wall paneling echo the ambience of the surrounding forest. The stairs, catwalk, and lofts have a playful quality that invites you to explore the hidden spaces above.

There is value in having less, Koch believes, especially when it comes to dwellings that are not a primary residence. Having small, meaningful spaces allows the owner to not feel burdened by all the needs of a large, complex home. After all, Koch explains, you are vacating the demands of a “work” home for a compact, simple, and low-maintenance space where what is large is the natural landscape.

Koch and her family also offer the home for short-term rental, so a lack of visual clutter and personal items further frees all who enter from “a world of stuff.” With native Huckleberry, wild Rhododendrons, Wax Myrtle, and Sword Ferns, along with the forest’s Redwoods, Bishop Pines, and Douglas and Grand Firs to bestow privacy and help quiet the mind, the cabin is truly a retreat from everyday life.

Photography by Joe Fletcher Photography

Photography by Joe Fletcher Photography

Photography by Joe Fletcher Photography