Home tour: a modernist family home near a verdant oasis in Austin, Texas

The living room's defining feature is its enormous windows, set onto minimal steel supports that frame the ever-changing views of the outdoors. Meanwhile, the dining room boasts its own undulating steel wall whose sinuous form is accentuated by hidden skylights above. The kitchen eschews conventional upper cabinets in favour of extra-tall windows overlooking the rear courtyard, a thoughtful detail allowing parents to monitor children at play whilst maintaining the room's connection to the outdoors. Rift-sawn white oak cabinetry and natural quartzite countertops provide tactile richness throughout the space.

Beyond the kitchen, a mudroom bridges the pathway to the garage. Turning westward, one encounters powder and laundry rooms concealed within white oak volumes, followed by an upper porch offering direct access to the pool below. The children's domain occupies this western end, with each bedroom carefully designed to reflect individual personalities, all opening onto a communal playroom. Behind a wall of cabinets hides a climbing wall with a special vantage point, where clerestory windows facing north establish a privileged view accessible only to the most adventurous of guests.  

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The primary suite establishes itself along the eastern end, with a luxurious bathroom, spacious closet, and dedicated yoga room. Custom panels and cabinetry throughout incorporate Namibian sodalite stone inlays and steel shelving, whilst the yoga room, perched at the suite's outermost corner, provides an elevated viewing deck that evokes feelings of floating above a verdant canopy.

Returning to the lower level, one can opt to explore the guest suite, office, second living space, sauna, and pool. Here, the stunning charcoal-coloured board-formed concrete walls become the defining architectural feature. Here, a custom steel wall animates a sinuous reading nook, large enough to accommodate the family of four, nestled as it is into the concrete wall's sculptural form.

From outside the home, its exterior palette of oak, Corten steel, board-formed concrete, native stone, and glass will evolve gracefully, with textures that mature alongside the family over time. This temporal dimension underscores Alterstudio Architects’ overarching design philosophy for this Texas home: to engage the space in an ongoing dialogue with its surroundings, rather than establishing it as a static monument or homage to fleeting trends. 

Of particular interest in the Texas home is how sustainability permeates every decision. Minimising excess floor area and shifting auxiliary functions outdoors, this allows natural ventilation to permeate the space while maximising indirect daylight. 

Altogether, the Barton Hills Residence brings its modernist vision to life because it prioritises lived experience as it shifts over time. Drawing inspiration from Mies van der Rohe's unbuilt Resor House, the Alterstudio team has calibrated a framework for extraordinary moments, offering an atmosphere of purposeful care and curiosity.

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