Alder & Stone Outdoor Living Studio
A stone fire terrace glowing at dusk beside a white Minnesota house, with lawn and mature trees beyond

Outdoor living, composed.

Architectural patios, garden rooms, fire features, and outdoor kitchens designed for Minnesota homes.

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Pl. 01 Wayzata · Fire terrace Bluestone / cedar / blackened steel
The studio

We draw the parts of a home that sit outside it.

Alder & Stone is an outdoor living studio in Minneapolis. We work in stone, cedar, water, fire, and low light, giving an outdoor room the same attention a floor plan receives, then building it ourselves.

One team carries a property from the first drawing to the final grade. Design and construction are never handed off between companies.

What we design

Close detail of a planted vessel resting on a weathered timber table on a stone terrace
Pl. 02 Detail · Edina courtyard
Material

A short palette, chosen for how it weathers.

A terrace that still reads well in twenty winters is built from four or five materials, detailed so water leaves them and set on a base that will not move with the frost.

  • Bluestone
  • Limestone
  • Granite
  • Western red cedar
  • Blackened steel
  • Fire
  • Water
  • Low-voltage light
What we build

Outdoor rooms, not features.

Each space is drawn to the way the house opens onto it, and to how the property is actually used after six o'clock.

A level stone terrace set with a long timber dining table beneath mature trees

The Terrace

Cut stone, tight joints, and a clear edge between garden and room.

 A covered outdoor kitchen with built-in grill, stone counter, and dining table under a timber roof

The Outdoor Kitchen

Counter, cold storage, and heat placed so the cook faces the table.

 Split firewood burning low inside a stone fire pit at the centre of a paved terrace

The Hearth

A fire that holds the far end of the evening in place.
A rectangular pool with pale stone coping and a shaded lounge terrace running the length of one edge
Pl. 03 Minnetonka · Pool house Limestone / travertine / cedar
Selected work

Minnetonka Pool House

Coping, deck, and the stair sequence down to the water drawn as one continuous stone floor.

All projects

The Minnesota year

Built for the season it has to survive.

Thaw Apr – May
Long light Jun – Aug
Turn Sep – Oct
Freeze Nov – Mar

Stone is set in the warm months. Drawings are made in the cold ones. The projects finished in time to be used are the ones that began as a conversation in winter.

Process

Five steps, in order.

  1. 01 Conversation

    What the property is missing, what it will be used for, and what the work is worth to you.

  2. 02 Site walk

    Grade, drainage, sun, sight lines, and the trees that decide where nothing can go.

  3. 03 Concept direction

    Plan, levels, and material direction. One clear scheme, refined with you rather than three to choose between.

  4. 04 Build plan

    Construction drawings, fixed scope, and a schedule written against the season.

  5. 05 Installation

    Our crews, our supervision, one site contact from demolition to final grade.

Enquiries

Begin with a conversation.

A short call, then a walk of the property. Design usually begins eight to twelve weeks before the ground is broken.

Start a project (612) 555-0148