May 3, 2026 • Posted by Design Bay Area
A studio visit is led by best-selling author Diane Dorrans Saeks at JESS FIELD, FIELD ARCHITECTURE with very special guest Bernard Trainor from Ground Studio.
The full program starts with a presentation by architect Jess Field, showing images of the firm’s newest work, including newly completed residences that have not been published. Jess will discuss his philosophy of selection of a site, placement, materials, and the many considerations of healthy, appropriate and beautiful architecture. Jess will then be joined by landscape architect Bernard Trainor, who will present the newest projects, California wide, from Ground Studio.
The two collaborators, longtime friends, will discuss how they work togeher to create a harmonious and natural landscape that feels natural and inspiring. The afternoon includes a tour of the JESS FIELD, FIELD ARCHITECTURE Studio, and we will study models the firm creates to address all aspects of plans on the boards. We will view sketches Jess uses outline and plan sites, and to protect the natural world. The firm’s associates will also present the studio materials collection, and reveal work in progress in this immersive afternoon. Reception at the studio to follow.
We will not have a waitlist, and do not accept refund requests.
About JESS FIELD, FIELD ARCHITECTURE:
Design, as we practice it, starts with the land.
Meet Principal JESS FIELD, tour his studio, and discover the firm’s approach to materiality and design, especially the remarkable stone collections. Jess Field will give a presentation of JESS FIELD, FIELD ARCHITECTURE award-winning residential projects, from dramatic sites on Big Sur, to Sonoma and the wine country. He will discuss the importance of collaboration in architecture and design. Speaking on landscape /garden design collaborations, David LeRoy, partner in Ground Works.
“We start by using hand drawings as a way to see and explore each site. With pencil in hand, we enter into a tactile exchange with the landscape—lines become ideas, spaces take form through repeated gestures.
We engage our clients in this creative process, which is rigorous, imaginative, and deeply immersive. Within our studio, ideas flow freely between these hand-drawn sketches, site models, and animated exchanges. Through this collaborative ethos, we shape, refine and transform concepts into buildings that are both grounded and transcendent.- JESS FIELD, FIELD ARCHITECTURE
About Bernard Trainor, Ground Studio:
Bernard Trainor is the founding principal and design director of Ground Studio, a team of artists and designers working together to envision and craft contextual California landscapes. They thoughtfully balance the character of the land, the identity of the architecture, and the lifestyles of people who live there. Designing in a range of scales from compact urban gardens to expansive rural sites, our designs inspire a deep connection with the land.
Drawing on thirty-five years of passionate commitment to the study and practice of landscape design Trainor has completed four academic programs, practiced professionally in three countries, and continues to lecture extensively on the subject of Landscape Design throughout the world.
“In each project we begin by listening, observing, and exploring the connections between human, built, and natural systems. Within these complex relationships, we practice an ecological approach to design that encourages regeneration of the land and connection to the people who inhabit it. Revealing inherent value in the site and creating connection through a contextual materiality, we blur the distinction between architecture and landscape, heightening this interplay of structure and nature.
Existing site patterns are a repository of meaning; there are clues within this complexity both in presence and purpose. By celebrating and building upon the patterns of each place, rather than manipulating them, a true sense of belonging in the landscape is revealed.” — Ground Studio Landscape Architecture, Monterey
About Diane Dorrans Saeks:
Diane is the best-selling author of 26 design and architecture books, including ‘Michael S, Smith Elements of Style’ (Rizzoli) and her two most recent, “Jean-Louis Deniot Interiors’ (Rizzoli) and ‘Parisian by Design (Rizzoli). She is currently working on new books on design, style, and interiors.
Diane is a founding editor with C California Style magazine, and the Design Editor of PAPERCITY magazine.
Diane has presented her acclaimed Dynamic Minds, Brilliant Inspiration seminar series for Design Bay Area and San Francisco Design Week for many years, offering participants rare access to the studios, minds, and creative processes of the city’s most distinguished architects and designers.
Learn more about Diane Dorrans Saeks on Instagram @dianedorranssaeks
Photos courtesy of Jess Field.