Set within a historic agricultural landscape along the Tualatin River, Ulsky Farm explores how a working property can evolve while remaining deeply connected to the systems and stories that have shaped it. Ground Workshop began with an expansive reading of the site—tracing its agricultural history, soils, hydrology, ecological communities, patterns of occupation, and relationship to the river. Rather than treating the property as a blank slate, the master planning process looked for opportunities to work with its existing character: open fields, seasonal wet areas, wooded edges, productive landscapes, and places of refuge.
A framework of areas of influence organized the landscape from the most inhabited and intensively used spaces outward toward increasingly passive portions of the property. This gradient informed decisions about circulation, agriculture, horses, trails, woodland, water, and habitat—allowing different parts of the farm to perform differently while remaining part of a cohesive whole.
From this research, Ground Workshop developed multiple master plan scenarios exploring alternative relationships between the home, farm structures, equestrian uses, productive landscapes, water, and the larger pastoral setting. Each tested a different spatial structure while sharing a common ambition: to celebrate rather than dominate the landscape, making the experience of the farm one of discovery, connection, and stewardship.