Overview
The Cuernavaca Residence is the latest installment in an evolving constructed landscape on a two-acre family compound that is shared by the client and her sister. Nestled in a wooded lot, the home forms an ensemble with an existing pool house. The latter’s board-formed concrete walls establish the material basis for the new residence, which is home to a family of five and includes two home offices. The house features a restrained vocabulary of rift sawn oak, mill finished steel, galvanized metal panels, and concrete—that alternates in orientation and pattern. Taken together, these materials create an environment rich in texture and animated by sun and shade over the course of a day.
The house slips between the existing pool house and a magnificent live oak, defining discrete terrains on the property. Long views are established: east to the limestone shelf of the Colorado River; north to a rolling meadow; west to a grove of oaks and the shared pool house. A double-height porch, with an outdoor fireplace, provides an outdoor family room; a second-floor roof deck affords constant breezes and stunning views to the limestone cliffs. Aligned with these natural features, the house welcomes engagement with circumstances of this particular landscape as the owners move through their home; further, the house provides a sense of the entire property in incidental moments.
Interior Design: Chupik Design
Photography: Casey Dunn + Nick Simonite
Awards
- 2018 The Architecture MasterPrize Award - Residential
- 2017 American Architecture Award
- 2016 IIDA Excellence in Design Awards
- 2016 AIA Austin Design Award
