Mattaforma’s creative retreat in a Utah forest offers knotty, cedar-board workspace with a view
US practice Mattaforma and its founder, Lindsey Wikstrom, join the 2026 Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory
Based in the United States, Mattaforma is a young practice joining the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2026, our newest round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios from around the world.
The timber exterior reflects the forested context
Who: Mattaforma
Mattaforma bridges the gap between nature and architecture, blending a research-based approach to design with a deep interest in and understanding of ecosystems and the world beyond human-made construction. Founded by Lindsey Wikstrom, who is also the author of Designing the Forest and Other Mass Timber Futures (Routledge, 2023), the practice scooped the coveted 2026 National Design Award for Emerging Designer from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.
The architect explains: ‘When you build with living materials, the building gives something back: cleaner air, stored carbon, a connection to the natural world that changes how people enjoy life in a space. Architecture is one of the few disciplines that can make ecological intelligence physical, tangible, livable, intimately known; and one of the few disciplines that can have an incredible impact on our carbon footprint as a species by choosing regenerative materials.’
Desks in window alcoves provide a connection to nature
From plant-based components to spaces centred on wellbeing and passive energy approaches, Mattaforma focuses on environments that not only feel organic now, but also grow and adapt over time. ‘I am influenced by traditional localised building practices and building science, and inspired to mix that intelligence with contemporary typologies, new definitions of nature and native-ness, and new ways of being in the world,’ says Wikstrom.
What: Parkview Mountain House
Conceived as a creative retreat within nature, Parkview Mountain House was a commission for a house that serves an artists’ residency programme for Globizen, a city building company and community instigator. Winkstrom and her team were called upon to craft a house for the business’s first-ever artist-in-residence programme, where writers, artists and scholars come, spend time and work in the forested setting of this Park City, Utah site.
The sloped site is engulfed in Wasatch firs. Within this leafy setting, the architects conceived the residence as a slender timber tower containing stacked guest rooms and communal areas. Strategically placed window boxes become extended desks, where work and natural context can converge. Knotty cedar-board interiors and a structure made of lightweight timber that reduces embodied carbon while highlighting the wooded context reinforce the feeling of living among the trees.
Why: Architects Directory 2026
When the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory was conceived in 2000, it was built as our bespoke international index of emerging architectural talent. Now in its 25th edition, our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe (now comprising over 500 alumni) champions the best and most promising young studios - a snapshot of talent showcasing inspiring work from all corners of the Earth with an emphasis on the residential realm.
This year’s anniversary survey includes 30 young studios (one for each of the 30 years of Wallpaper*), from Australia, Bahrain, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, France, Ivory Coast, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, India, Morocco, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the USA, and Vietnam. Welcome to the promise, ideas and exciting architecture of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2026.
