As Seen in Sunset Magazine
Sunset transformed its rooftop into an open-air workspace using Terra Outdoor Living furniture. Here’s what the project can teach us about creating a comfortable, flexible place to work outside.
Originally featured in Sunset Magazine. The 2026 Travel Issue (page 42). Photography by Thomas J. Story.
Who says the office has to be indoors?
For Sunset, the modern Western workspace takes a decidedly different approach. Their rooftop office brings work into the open air, creating a place where meetings, conversations and even a quiet afternoon with a laptop can unfold beneath the California sky.
Furnished with pieces from Terra Outdoor Living, the space demonstrates that a thoughtfully designed outdoor office space can be every bit as functional as its indoor counterpart, while offering something a traditional conference room never can: fresh air, natural light and an immediate connection to the outdoors.
The result is less about moving a desk outside and more about reconsidering what a workspace can be.
Designing an Outdoor Office Space Around How You Work
The best outdoor workspaces aren’t designed for just one activity.
A productive day might include an informal conversation with a colleague, an hour working independently, a larger team meeting or lunch around a table. Instead of recreating the traditional office outdoors, Sunset’s rooftop uses distinct areas that can accommodate each of those moments.
Comfortable lounge furniture creates space for conversation. Lightweight seating can adapt to the needs of the moment. A dining table doubles as a place to gather and collaborate.
It’s an approach that feels just as relevant at home. Whether you’re designing a rooftop workspace, a dedicated backyard office area or simply looking for a better place to work outside, start with the activities you want the space to support.
1. Create a Comfortable Place to Gather
Lounge chairs and an outdoor sofa from Terra’s Ojai collection.
The foundation of Sunset’s outdoor workspace is a lounge area furnished with Terra’s Ojai Collection.
With its clean lines and subtle Asian-inspired aesthetic, Ojai brings the comfort of an indoor sitting area outside without making the space feel overly formal. A sofa, lounge chairs and coffee table create a natural setting for conversation, reading or an informal meeting.
It’s an important lesson for designing an outdoor office: comfort matters.
Outdoor work doesn’t always need to happen upright at a desk. Creating a comfortable conversation area gives people somewhere to brainstorm, meet one-on-one or step away from a screen without leaving the workspace entirely.
The surrounding greenery and patterned copper wall at Sunset’s rooftop office add another dimension. They subsequently transform the rooftop from simply a furnished patio into a true outdoor room.
2. Make the Workspace Flexible
Tiburon lounge chairs and a Nicasio coffee table in the powder-coated dune aluminum finish.
An outdoor office space becomes much more useful when it can change throughout the day.
Sunset incorporated Terra’s Tiburon Collection, allowing chairs and tables to be repositioned depending on the task at hand. A small meeting can become a larger gathering, or furniture can be moved aside when more open space is needed.
Made with durable aluminum and designed for outdoor use, pieces like these also solve one of the fundamental challenges of an outdoor workspace: furnishings need to be comfortable and attractive while standing up to the elements.
Deep cushions add indoor-level comfort, while the streamlined frames keep the area feeling open and adaptable.
For a home outdoor office, the same principle applies. Rather than designing around one permanent desk position, consider furniture that gives you options. You might work from a table in the morning, move into the shade with a laptop in the afternoon and transition the same space into a place to relax when the workday is over.
3. Give Yourself Somewhere to Step Away
The Diablo rocking chair, made from Italian all-weather rope and a powder-coated charcoal aluminum frame
Every good workspace needs somewhere to take a break.
A Diablo Rocking Chair gives Sunset’s rooftop a spot designed for exactly that. Its charcoal aluminum frame and Italian-made polyolefin rope bring a more sculptural element to the space while still serving a practical purpose.
Placed beneath a market umbrella, the chair also illustrates another essential consideration when creating an outdoor office: shade.
Direct sun can make working on a laptop difficult and turn an otherwise beautiful patio into an uncomfortable place to spend an afternoon. Umbrellas, pergolas and naturally shaded areas can all help create a more usable environment throughout the day.
Think about the path of the sun when planning your workspace, particularly during the hours you’re most likely to use it.
4. Let the Dining Table Double as a Conference Table
The Diablo extendable dining table in charcoal paired with Diablo dining chairs in dune.
Not every meeting needs a conference room.
Sunset’s Diablo Extension Dining Table creates a flexible gathering place that works equally well for lunch, conversation or spreading out a laptop and notebook. Paired with Diablo Rope Dining Chairs, the setting has the functionality of a traditional meeting table without feeling anything like one.
An extension table can be particularly useful in a multipurpose outdoor office space. Keep it compact when only one or two people are working, then expand it when the group gets larger.
And once the laptops are closed, the same setting is ready for dinner.
That versatility is one of the biggest advantages of taking the workspace outdoors. Unlike a dedicated home office, an outdoor work area doesn’t have to stop being useful at 5 p.m.
How to Create an Outdoor Office Space at Home
You don’t need a commercial rooftop to borrow ideas from Sunset’s workspace.
A patio, deck, balcony or quiet corner of the backyard can become an inviting place to work outdoors. The key is designing it intentionally rather than simply carrying your laptop to the nearest patio chair.
Consider a few essentials:
- Comfortable seating: Choose furniture you’d genuinely be comfortable using for an extended period, including both upright and more relaxed seating.
- A useful work surface: A dining or occasional table can provide space for a laptop, notebook, coffee and other essentials without making your patio look like an office.
- Reliable shade: An umbrella or other shade solution can dramatically increase the number of hours your outdoor workspace is comfortable and usable.
- Flexible furniture: Lightweight chairs and tables make it easier for the space to evolve from solo work to meetings to after-hours entertaining.
- Greenery: Plants and surrounding landscaping help visually separate a work area and reinforce the connection to nature.
- Weather-ready materials: Outdoor furniture made from teak, powder-coated aluminum and performance fabrics can deliver the refined look of an interior while being designed for life outside.
Work Outside. Live Outside.
What makes Sunset’s rooftop office particularly successful isn’t any single piece of furniture. It’s the idea that working outdoors doesn’t need to feel improvised.
By creating distinct destinations for conversation, individual work, meetings and breaks, the rooftop functions as a genuine extension of the workplace.
The same thinking can transform a residential patio or backyard.
Create a comfortable place to settle in. Add a table when you need to spread out. Make shade part of the plan. Surround yourself with greenery. And choose furniture that can continue serving the space long after the workday ends.
Because sometimes the best way to rethink the office is simply to take it outside.
Explore outdoor furniture designed for living, working and gathering at Terra Outdoor Living.