Sited within the tight confines of a century-old lot in central Austin, Texas, Casita Árbol began its life as the primary home’s detached garage. In the 100 years since its construction, the home’s backyard became the dominion of a mature pecan tree falling under Austin’s progressive tree protection ordinance and occupying nearly all the space available to construct a new standalone structure within modern setbacks, necessitating the adaptive re-use of the garage’s non-conforming footprint.

The Casita’s design brief called for a detached space functioning as an expansion of the existing home’s limited living area while providing indoor/outdoor flexibility in the dynamic climate conditions of Central Texas. Future adaptability to single-level housing for aging parents was also essential, with the project’s central programmatic elements all located on the ground level but maintaining privacy and independence from the main house.

The design builds off the existing garage’s footprint, expanding up to a second-floor loft space and out to a multi-season porch with custom-fabricated sliding screens capable of opening the space completely to the backyard and new covered deck. Old-growth framing and board sheathing, consciously salvaged from the original structure, were adapted and re-used in the new design as stock for the porch ceiling aswell as countertops and shelving in the bar and bath spaces.

Additions outside the existing footprint were all built on no-dig structural footings, minimizing any impact on the pecan tree’s root system. The roof design was selectively edited in areas with close proximity to major tree limbs to allow for future growth and for the seasonal rise and fall of limbs laden with leaves and nuts. The final result is a successful realization of the clients’ current and future needs, strengthened by the connection to the undeniable character the pecan tree brings to the space