Location: Austin, Texas

Completed: 2021

Design Team: Philip Keil, David Birt, Drew Wilson

Contractor: A.R. Lucas Construction

Landscape Design: Shademaker Studio

Interior Design: Mark Ashby Design

Photographer: Clay Grier

A previous remodel and addition to a 1954 ranch style home in central west Austin resulted in disjointed spaces, poor circulation, and awkwardly proportioned rooms. The new owners challenged FKA to create a design that established a sense of cohesiveness and order, reflecting their personalities through a feeling of openness, natural light, and warmth of materials, and providing contemporary spaces for daily living and congregating with family and friends.

The owners were seeking overall value and unique architectural elements that made the home elegant in design and function. The team’s design strategy maintained value by keeping the majority of the existing structure, with the added second floor program stacking directly over the existing garage. The new plan reorganizes the circulation around a central kitchen as a hub of social activity, clearly delineating public and private spaces and improving the flow of the house. Careful consideration was given to creating separate groupings for conversation, TV viewing, music, games and other entertainment. A new screened porch allows for the home to be opened to the breezes coming up the hill to the back of the house for natural ventilation.

A wood ceiling plane was utilized as an organizing device in the design; connecting lower ceilings at the front of the house which make for more intimate gathering areas, and taller ceilings with differentiated materials in the rear of the house that strengthen the physical connection to the back yard, pool, and views to the south. Capturing and preserving views of the nearby Taylor Slough evokes the sense of being immersed in the natural wooded setting of this central west Austin property.   

Most of the house has relatively modest detailing, but more intensive detailing was used to selectively emphasize certain connections.  White oak millwork and honed limestone walls define the core of the house, while steel and white oak screens at the dining room, entry and stairwell emphasize movement and filter light into the heart of the house. Honed limestone walls and porches anchor the home to the ground, while the existing tree canopy allows for diffused light throughout the day and gives privacy to public spaces throughout the house, contributing to the play of shadows on the walls detailed with a custom rhythm of Hardi-board siding.

Recognition:

2023 Home & Design Awards Finalist, Austin Home Magazine

Austin Home Magazine, “In The Flow”, By Chris Warren, Spring 2023

The Spruce, “Best Plunge Pools”, By Kristin Hohenadel, 2023

The Spruce, “Walkway Ideas that Make an Impression”, By Kristin Hohenadel, 2023

The Spruce, “Backyard Ideas that are Sleek and Inviting”, By Kristin Hohenadel, 2023