House in Austin,TX meets the requirements of the American green architectural standards. It took over a year to design, and only eight months to build. The project came about through simulation of situations in which all the household members were involved. Instead of a one-sided indoor-outdoor contrast, here we project a host of situations with different atmospheric and light conditions and spatial experiences, depending on the length of stay in a particular space.Some of the spaces are private, some are shared with the rest of the family and guests.
The result is a matrix: the north-south axis involves indoor and outdoor spaces that align themselves with a terraced slope toward the south; the east-west axis aligns with the movement of the sun that illuminates daily activities.
House is situated in a green district not far from the city center, but still protected by its topography and lush greenery that owes its existence a great deal to the size of land plots, which ensures low building density in the area. The original landscape typical of Austin has been preserved to a great extent. Our immediate response to this exceptional landscape was to try to preserve the ancient elements by highlighting some of them: the trees, the garden, and the cave. Thus the entire house is subordinated to the views and the light that is amplifyied by the pool water, which is strategically positioned outside the very heart of the house precisely for that reason.
The openings that are directed mainly toward the south play into the indoor-outdoor spatial dialogue with their size. The windows on the second floor should not be understood as a simulation of Fensterband in the classic modern architecture, but as an effort to enable all the household members to enjoy the same experience of viewing the green landscape that stretches for many miles.
