Previous lake home clients again entrusted us to design a new single-family residence to replace their existing home with deteriorating foundation. It was important to our clients to stay in their eclectic, walkable neighborhood, near many restaurants, shops, and near a major transit corridor. In a dense, urban neighborhood, we sought to minimize the massing from the street while meeting the client’s programmatic requirement for a spacious home. The primary occupants, a retired couple, wished for their daily needs to be met on the ground floor and to accommodate an indoor/outdoor lifestyle, connected to nature. They desired a home that would accommodate the various life stages of their three young adult children, and they ultimately envisioned large family holidays in their near future. For these reasons, they requested four bedroom suites, however, we used our rapport to successfully advocate that one of those suites be an attached ADU with a separate exterior entrance in order to provide flexible use, not only for their family but possibly a future tenant or caregiver. We used exposed structural heavy timber elements to create unobstructed volumes. This biophilic system continues through to the exterior porches, featuring skylights that filter light through the wooden structural members, mimicking the dappled light that comes through a tree canopy. Drawing from Texas vernacular architecture, we respond to climate demands with deep porches, overhangs, and awnings, the use of local materials, and natural daylighting with operable windows to create cross ventilation. The home features solar panels on the south facing roof with a battery storage system for peak demand reduction. We mitigated preexisting runoff by removing excessive impervious cover and capturing rainwater for irrigation uses.

This home was completed in 2022 by Craig Parker.

Photos by Summer Maulden.