Architect | Nick Deaver Architect |
Location | Austin, United States |
Area | 249 m2 (2680 sq.ft.) |
Photographs | Casey Dunn |
In 1956, architects Fehr and Granger designed a modest house to hover above the ground beneath a cathedral of live oaks. Sixty years later, the architectural notion was to re-clad the house in insulated glass and unfinished vertical cedar siding, returning it to the original form/footprint by removing an expansion and garage in-fill.
The social side of the house contains the cooking, dining and living spaces flanked by limestone walls that claim the outdoors. A new, L-shaped white oak cabinet separating formal and informal living areas appears like another wall in the landscape. For the private side of the house, a generous master bedroom and bath was created by repositioning bedroom closets.
An original back-switching stair pinched circulation, restricting flow. Adopting a straight-run open riser hanging stair relieves the bottleneck in the home’s circulation and leads directly to a new pool terrace, pool house and playroom below. This south facing terrace, a concrete, wood and steel improvisation of the original structure, cantilevers over the hill and completes the missing backyard.