Project Description
Our clients, approaching retirement and relocating from Houston to Austin, purchased this site high on a ridge overlooking Lake Austin and the Pennybacker Bridge. The property came with a house which proved inadequate for their needs but which nestled neatly amid beautiful live oaks. In choosing to commission a new home, they asked that it also tuck under the limbs of the oaks and maintain a subdued presence to the street. Extraordinary efforts such as cantilevered floors and even bridging over critical root zones allow the design to be truly fitted to the site and to coexist with the trees, the grandest of which is the focal point of the entry courtyard. Of equal importance to the trees and view was to provide, conversely, for walls to display a collection of 35 School of Paris paintings and numerous books. From form to smallest detail, the house is quiet and subtle.