This contemporary home is located on an ancestral family ranch in the Texas Hill Country, near Fredericksburg.

In keeping with ranching tradition, a young couple with two children and of modest means expressed their desire to build their own home and construct it themselves. The design started from the reuse of a foundation slab located adjacent to an existing vernacular structure. Work will always be on-going as resources become available. Standardized wood frame construction was selected for ease of client labor.

Overlooking a pond to the south, a reflective shield of galvanized corrugated metal protects the primary structure and conditioned space while creating interstitial zones of outdoor space. Cut-outs and openings in the reflective shield are strategically placed to frame views to the countryside, pond, and vehicular approach. Also, through the orientation and form of this reflective shield, the building employs basic principles of passive sustainable design to take advantage of natural daylight and ventilation while controlling solar heat gain.

The primary use of reflective sheet metal, stucco, exposed wood and natural stone found on the site, as well as the shed-like form of the protective enclosure, acknowledge the unique material and vernacular precedents of the Hill Country region in a contemporary design.

awards:

2012 AIA Austin Design Award