stephanieNY

My cousin and his wife recently designed and built their house outside Austin, TX. I feel pretty proud that I can post a design project like this from within the fam. Chris and Sarah captained sailboats for years, where I think they collected habits from efficiency of space and functions, and brought them to their new terrestrial home.

The structure is two (and a half?) levels. A workshop on the first floor lifts their entire living space up close to the tree line, where they tap into the airflow for natural ventilation. The elevated living space is a big open loft that extends out onto an enormous deck, covered by the south-facing shed roof. Even in Texas, they manage to turn off the a/c sometimes and let the roof overhang shade them from the south sun, and the clerestory windows draw air in from the north. Building materials include stucco and standing seam steel outside, poured concrete countertops and stained plywood floors and wall panels inside.  

Oh, and Chris built it.

For more pictures and some better reporting:

grassrootsmodern.com post

statesman.com article