About – Earthbound Architecture

What is Earthbound Architecture?

Earthbound Architecture is a full service architectural design firm founded in 2018 to pursue the design and development of thoughtful spaces that are in keeping with their surroundings.

Earthbound Architecture focuses on designs that are integral to their environment while utilizing sustainable design principals and practices to create unique, long lasting and enjoyable buildings.

Earthbound Architecture believes that the physical environments one spends their time in can dramatically affect a person’s life, well being and outlook. We are here to help you shape your environment to match your desired lifestyle.

Who is Earthbound Architecture?

Earthbound Architecture was founded by licensed architect, principal and owner, Maya Ward-Karet (LEED Green Associate). Maya has a diverse background in architecture, construction, design and innovation. She has worked in the field of architecture since 2006 in firms ranging from four employees to 900. Most recently Maya was a Senior Associate at Pel-Ona Architects and Urbanists in Boulder, Colorado where she worked on both small scale residential projects and large urban planning projects with hundreds of residential, mixed use and commercial units. In addition to her paid positions, Maya has also worked as a volunteer designer for BlueEnergy, a non profit organization in Bluefields, Nicaragua, and as an international consultant at the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies at EAFIT University in Medellin, Colombia.

Maya completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Architecture and developed a solid foundation in the skill of turning conceptual ideas into physical realities. Maya received her Masters in Architecture from Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, where she learned the value of hands on experience, independent thinking and learning from the past.

In addition to her knowledge of architectural design and international development, Maya also believes strongly in learning by doing. During her graduate studies she designed and constructed Helixa, an earthbag dwelling at Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona (2010), and a whole tree garage in Unity, Maine (2009). When she returned to the United States after 9 months in Colombia, she participated in the construction of the first commercial Super Adobe structure in the nation, and was an intern at Bonita Domes, a private earthbag home constructed just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. Here in Colorado she has lent her construction skills to the building of a meditation space in Boulder and the Regenerative Home project in La Garita.

As a means to live her values, Maya has also embarked on the design, development and hands on construction of her own home and studio on an idyllic property in the mountains surrounding Boulder, Colorado. Please enjoy the video above for more information on the core values that drive everything we do at Earthbound Architecture, and how those are transformed into real world decisions.

what our clients say

Maya is great to work with. She treats all aspects of design with thoughtfulness, depth of experience and attention to detail belied by her flexibility and willingness to work with our ideas. We would hire Maya again and recommend her to anyone looking for an outstanding architect.

Working with Earthbound Architecture has been a wonderful experience. Maya listened closely to our aesthetic, budget and lifestyle choices throughout the design process. Combining our vision with her architectural design and real world construction experience has resulted in a thoughtful, functional, and visually pleasing final product.

Maya from Earthbound Architecture is a true pleasure to work with. Her architectural expertise combined with extensive knowledge of Boulder County regulations helped us easily navigate the permitting process. Maya's attention to detail, personalized service, responsiveness and reasonable fees made Earthbound Architecture the best choice, by far, for our project.

We were very pleased with Maya’s work when building our project a few years ago. We found Maya to be rock solid in her design ability and a good communicator. She networked well with the contractor and various trades to implement clever uses of new energy efficiency designs. She is dependable, confident and capable. Her knowledge of the county maze saved us many hours and dollars.

Maya was exceptional to work with and extremely knowledgeable on all aspects of county code. She gave great advice on design choices while also pragmatically worked in all of my must-haves. We benefited with her expansive network of professionals and found a great engineer perfectly suited for our unique job. Overall, Maya made a rather untenable situation manageable, almost fun and within budget.

Working with Maya was fantastic. She took my vision for a fern grotto steam shower and made it a reality. Then she offered her vision for remodeling our kitchen and it blew my mind – I had never considered that such changes were possible, let alone affordable. Maya also found us a decent contractor and was able to get our plans through Boulder County approvals amazingly quickly. She has our highest recommendations.