A multi-family compound rises from a remote, grassy valley on the bank of the Frio River deep in the Texas Hill Country. The goal for this project was to create shelters with an environmental experience unique to its place where Summer madness gives way to Winter stillness. Where city life and digital stimulation are replaced by the experience of feeling a cool breeze or snuggling up to a warm fire.
Architect Name: Camp Frio
Architecture Name: Tim Cuppett Architects
A multi-family compound rises from a remote, grassy valley on the bank of the Frio River deep in the Texas Hill Country.
The goal for this project was to create shelters with an environmental experience unique to its place where Summer madness gives way to Winter stillness. Where city life and digital stimulation are replaced by the experience of feeling a cool breeze or snuggling up to a warm fire.
Structures consist of a main house, meditation room over art studio/garage, and two guest studio cottages. Main house and cottages are linked by a slightly elevated walkway which enables barefoot kids to run back and forth over the tall grass and creepie crawlers.
Much like “Dogtrot” shelters from the past, a “breezeway” bookended by concealed multi-slide doors, bisects the main house enabling alfresco dining most of the year; alternatively, the space is zoned and can be enclosed for heating. Screened porches, front and back, envelope cozy living chambers. Secondary sleeping spaces occupy an attic that spans the rear porch of the main house while cottages feature open “kid’s” lofts.
Structures were detailed for simplicity of construction with readily available, local materials and fashioned by local tradesmen.
Reporting after their first weekend in camp, the Owner enthusiastically announced that spaces “are cozy… but ample and gracious; dark and moody…. but bright and airy.”
Structures consist of a main house, meditation room over art studio/garage, and two guest studio cottages. Main house and cottages are linked by a slightly elevated walkway which enables barefoot kids to run back and forth over the tall grass and creepie crawlers.
Much like “Dogtrot” shelters from the past, a “breezeway” bookended by concealed multi-slide doors, bisects the main house enabling alfresco dining most of the year; alternatively, the space is zoned and can be enclosed for heating. Screened porches, front and back, envelope cozy living chambers. Secondary sleeping spaces occupy an attic that spans the rear porch of the main house while cottages feature open “kid’s” lofts.
Structures were detailed for simplicity of construction with readily available, local materials and fashioned by local tradesmen.
Reporting after their first weekend in camp, the Owner enthusiastically announced that spaces “are cozy… but ample and gracious; dark and moody…. but bright and airy.”
Tim Cuppett
Founding Partner, AIA
Cuppett is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture. After an internship in San Francisco, he has had the luxury of residing and practicing in Austin for three decades.
Cuppett formed his own practice in 1998. He is a registered Architect and Interior Designer. He has led the firm to design awards from AIA Austin and Texas Society of Architects. Work has been published in local and regional magazines including Southern Living’s “Best New Home 2014”. His homes have been featured in six of the last ten AIA Austin homes tours. In 2016 Cuppett welcomed Dave Kilpatrick as a Partner in the firm.
Lectures:
2017 “Hygge at Home”, Architalk Lecture Series
2016 “Design Award Panel”, AIA Austin Summer Conference
2015 “Design Awards Panel”, Texas Society of Architects Convention, Dallas
2014 “Regionalism”, Texas Society of Architects Convention, Houston
2014 “Texas Vernacular”, Dallas Market Center
2014 “Texas Vernacular”, Houston Design Center
2008 “Recent Work”, Umlauf Architect Lecture Series
Dave
Dave is a graduate of the University of Texas, School of Architecture and a central Texas native. Before joining Tim Cuppett Architects in 2011, he spent time drawing houses in southern California and west of Austin. Somewhere during that time, he took sabbatical to swing a hammer in South Texas. In 2016, Dave joined Tim as partner.
In addition to collaborating on design concepts, Dave focuses on the technical aspects of each project to ensure the concepts are communicated effectively to the field and executed as intended. He spends as much time on site as he does in the office.
When he is not working, Dave’s wife, three kids and perpetual tinkering on his central Austin bungalow keep him very busy.
Dave is registered to practice Architecture in the State of Texas.
