We were asked to redesign a small, 2-room apartment by a client who had decided to join the Westminster Senior Living Community in Austin.
The client wanted more space than she was able to get — due to demand and long wait-times for the larger apartments at the facility — so we set out immediately to increase the sense of space of this small apartment with whatever tools we had.
In addition to reconfiguring and modifying the bedroom and bath, we deployed built-in furniture and storage into nearly every wall thus freeing up more space for movement and creating the sense of there being more space than there originally was. We envisioned the apartment like a personal railroad car or ship cabin where every inch is well-considered and utilized.

For this project, our client asked us to create a 1100sf small house, or rental apartment on the back side of an existing 1940’s house near the University of Texas campus.
We elected to put the 2 private bedrooms — for the likely independent university student tenants — on the ground floor, whose entrances are accessed off of a glowingly lit stair atrium. We envisioned the atrium to be outdoors and clad large parts of it with a Poly-Gal translucent wall system. We left parts of the wall framing exposed and clad other parts in plywood, moves which underscored the indoor-outdoor feeling of the stair area.
As you move to the second-level living, and view to the beloved UT Tower, you experience interior windows, and cladding which further blur the clear distinction between what is an indoor and outdoor space. Materials are simple, exposed, durable and not too precious in most cases: fitting and lasting we hope for the tenants who live there.

We built this modern home on a steep lot in West Austin. The roof over the carport welcomes the approaching driver, allowing the car to virtually enter the living-room space and share the canyon view. The parked cars rest over the kitchen and are visible and present from the living area. Our client, a family of 4, wanted an efficient house, 2150 SF,that carried a light ecological footprint. The house utilizes CMU thermal mass storage, a SIPS panel roof system and a 6.4 KW solar collector panel on the roof.

2007 AIA Austin Merit Award

2006 AIA Homes Tour

Featured as a design boom contemporary project.

Featured on Archilovers

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Riverview Way House — a 4,500 sf renovation/addition to a one-story mid-century modern house, built in the 1950’s. Houston, Texas; Tangelwood neighborhood. 80% recycled rubber shingles make up the exterior cladding of the roof-top and 2nd floor additions.

Our client for this project has recently put this house on the market for sale. For more information about the house, please visit: 6127 Riverview Way

IN PROGRESS

2300 sq ft Main house with an additional 900 sq ft for an accessory dwelling.