Barton Hills Residence

Project Details

Project Description

This project was selected as an Honor winner in the 2024 Residential Architect Design Awards, Custom Home / More than 3,000 Square Feet category.

“I love how they could add whimsy, and yet it could still be elegant. And that image with a child climbing on that wall—that's a beautifully composed wall.” —Juror Roselie Enriquez Ledda

Built on a central Austin hilltop, this nearly-5,400-square-foot home for a young family holds surprises, both inside and out. Upon arrival, visitors round a sculpted concrete wall enveloping an interior courtyard, in the process getting a sneak peek of what’s to come, before reaching the entry to the house. Once inside, the spectator is greeted by a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that command sweeping views of the Barton Creek greenbelt, a popular destination for local outdoor enthusiasts.

Turning around from the open-plan living and dining room spaces, one ends up in the kitchen, also glazed but overlooking the entry courtyard. From within the courtyard, the mélange of materials used to construct and clad the house—board-formed concrete, wood battens, Corten steel, native stone, and glass—becomes evident. It’s an exterior designed to mature over time along with the surrounding landscape.

As the family includes two young children, the clients desired a home that would facilitate creative, self-directed discovery and low-tech play. To that end, the architects created a playroom with a secret: slots within the room’s wall reveal a hidden double-height space accessed via a jib door and containing a climbing wall. At the very top, the climber is treated to another vantage point looking northward through clerestory windows. They also carved out a sinuous double-sided reading nook within the concrete wall of the lower floor’s family room, a space which opens onto the swimming pool.

PROJECT CREDITS:
Project: Barton Hills Residence
Location: Austin, TX
Client/Owner: withheld
Architect: Alterstudio Architecture
Construction Start Date: August 2018
Construction End Date: May 2024
Size in Square Feet: 5,382
Cost: withheld

Partners: Kevin Alter, Ernesto Cragnolino, Tim Whitehill
Project Architects: Michael Woodland, Matt Slusarek
Interior Designer: Haifa Hammami, Alterstudio Architecture
Mechanical Engineer: Kristof Irwin, Positive Energy
Structural Engineer: Samuel Young, MJ Structures
General Contractor: Tom Sullivan, Clean Tag
Landscape Architect: Mark Word, Word + Carr Design Group
Pool Designer: Jim Wanamaker, Liquid Assets
Geotechnical Engineer: Steve Johnson, Holt Engineering

MATERIALS AND SOURCES:
Appliances: Gaggenau
Bathroom Fixtures: CEADESIGN
Carpet: Atelier Fevrier, the Rug Company, Shore Studios
Cabinets: Siena Custom Cabinetry
Concrete: Rojo’s Concrete, Prism Corporation concrete pigment
Countertops: ABC Stone, Stone Source, Cosentino Dekton
Exterior Wall Systems: Compass stucco/EIFS
Fabrics and Finishes: Heath Ceramics, ABC Stone, Salvatori, Maharam, Holly Hunt, Holland & Sherry, Spinneybeck, Jiun Ho, playroom loft, Christopher Farr, Design of the Time, Electra Eggleston, Pierre Frey
Flooring: Ingrained by Nature
Furniture: The Future Perfect, Holly Hunt, Garde, Studio TwentySeven, ESPASSO, Montauk Sofa, Avenue Road, Paola Lenti, Janus Et Cie, McKinnon and Harris, Scott + Cooner, Living Divani
Glass: Austin Retrofit, Marble Falls Glass
HVAC: Mitsubishi
Insulation: Hinkle Construction Services
Kitchen fixtures: Dornbracht
Lighting Control Systems: Next Electronic Systems
Lighting: Roll & Hill, Serge Mouille, Oluce, Jonathan Browning, Michael Anastassiades
Masonry and Stone: ABC Stone, Stone Source
Metal: Steel House structural steel, Nickell Metalsmiths decorative steel, Straight Solutions metal siding
Paints and Finishes: Farrow and Ball, Tadelakt, Rubio Monocoat
Plumbing and Water System: Eagle Plumbing, Watermark
Roofing: Straight Solutions
Structural System: Foster Architectural Metalworks steel
Wallcoverings: Holly Hunt, Maharam
Walls: Terra Pura LLC plaster, US Lumber exterior siding
Windows and Doors: Western Window Systems manufactured windows and doors, Austin Retrofit custom site glazing, BMC interior doors, Cowart Door garage doors
Door hardware: FSB, FritsJurgens front door pivot, Formani, Croft

Photo Credit: Casey Dunn