Overview
The Alta Vista Residence slips nonchalantly into Austin’s Travis Heights neighborhood and deftly situates itself at the edge of the Blunn Creek escarpment between several mature Live Oak trees. From the street, a delicate roof defines the entry and carport, and floats above a vertical-board-formed-concrete wall that maintains privacy while remaining engaged with the neighborhood.
The house foregrounds a magnificent Live Oak, under whose broad limbs visitors arrive, crossing a modest bridge into a carefully orchestrated sequence of spaces. The interiors open fully to the outdoors and into the canopy of two additional Live Oaks. A 24-foot wall of sliding panels disappears into an adjacent wall, dissolving the boundary between the elevated main room—now 10 feet above grade—and a lush, newly created private landscape.
A 600-square-foot accessory dwelling unit and an additional 1,300 square feet tucked below the main floor take advantage of the site’s natural slope (and Austin’s FAR exemptions), discreetly embedded into the hillside and opening onto the landscape beyond. Above, a third-floor room captures long views, extending the experience beyond this sheltered, private world.
Photography: Casey Dunn
Awards
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2024 Austin Home and Design Awards
Finalist - Whole Home Architecture -
2023 AIA Housing Awards
Winner - Residential: single-family detached -
2023 Texas Society of Architects Design Awards
Winner -
2023 AIA Austin Awards
Award of Merit
