Outdoor viewing platform made of wood and metal, with a stack of firewood on one side, situated in a garden with ornamental grasses, surrounded by trees and rocks.

The Shower

Earth, fire, wind, and water - elemental forces that shape our existence. When asked to create an outdoor shower for a former woodshop turned residence, we looked to these natural elements to craft a bathing space that honors its forest-edge setting.

The site itself dictated the material palette. Using wood in multiple expressions, we created layered boundaries: a vertical cedar screen for wind protection and privacy, a board-formed concrete wall bearing the imprint of rough-sawn lumber, and a steel-framed cordwood wall that transforms split firewood into architectural texture. Each material relates to the forest just beyond - cedar for its resistance to weather, concrete cast against salvaged boards, cordwood stacked tight within its metal frame.

The result is more than functional infrastructure. It's an immersive ritual - standing beneath open sky while surrounded by wood in all its forms, water cascading over weathered surfaces, steam rising into the canopy. A daily practice made extraordinary through careful attention to material, place, and the sensory experience of bathing within nature.

Project Type:
Custom Fabrication

Year Built:
2020

Location:
Martha's Vineyard, MA

Collaborators:
Youngjin Yi
Charlie Firestone

Photography:
Youngjin Yi
Charlie Firestone
Erin Pellegrino

  • A wooden garden wall with a row of colorful rocks on top, surrounded by green trees and hanging vines.
  • Wooden slat fence with water cascading down from above.
  • Outdoor shower with water spray, wooden deck, green trees, and blue sky with clouds.

Elemental Craft

  • Wood becomes the unifying thread - appearing in multiple forms across the shower enclosure. Vertical cedar slats create a privacy screen that filters wind and light. Board-formed concrete walls bear the negative imprint of rough-sawn lumber, texture pressed into permanent surface. A steel-framed cordwood wall transforms split firewood into architectural mass, each piece stacked tight within its custom metal frame.

  • Sited at the boundary between manicured yard and woodland, the shower inhabits a liminal space. The design embraces this threshold condition - open to sky above, sheltered by trees beyond, grounded on a simple wooden deck. Materials were chosen for their relationship to the surrounding forest and their ability to weather gracefully in constant exposure to the elements.

  • More than functional infrastructure, this outdoor shower transforms daily bathing into sensory experience. Water cascades over weathered wood and textured concrete. Steam rises toward the canopy. The body moves between enclosure and exposure, privacy and openness. A mundane necessity becomes deliberate practice through careful attention to material, sequence, and the experience of being outdoors.

  • Cedar's natural oils resist decay. Concrete cures harder with age. Cordwood, when properly stacked and ventilated, endures for decades. Each material was selected not just for its immediate beauty but for how it would age - silvering, darkening, developing patina. The shower improves with time, becoming more integrated into its wooded setting with each passing season.

Close-up photo of the boardformed concrete wall in The Shower
Outdoor shower with wooden slat walls and a rain shower head, surrounded by greenery.
A modern outdoor shower pavilion with stacked firewood on a raised platform, surrounded by greenery and trees.
Wood logs stacked vertically with a black frame, adjacent to a wooden slat wall, with a rain shower feature on the left and a wooden deck floor.
Two bottles of shampoo and conditioner placed on a wooden shelf in an outdoor shower or bath area with horizontal wooden slats.
View from a wooden deck with green leafy vine in the foreground, overlooking a lush green backyard with trees and a firewood rack in the background.
Close-up of a wooden structure on the right side of the image with stacked wood pieces, outside in a garden area with rocks and green bushes and trees in the background.
A stacked pile of cordwood next to a horizontal wooden breezewall with a shadow cast on it, under a bright blue sky with green tree leaves.
A person is taking a shower outdoors with water falling from a black showerhead, surrounded by rocks, wooden fencing, and trees with green and red leaves in the background.