A site with unique geometry and topography, paired with a client’s balance of casual family and more formal entertaining lifestyle inspired our Richard Lane house.
Project Name: Richard Lane
Studio Name: Hugh Jefferson Randolph Architects
Location: AUSTIN, United States
Photography: Leonid Furmansky
Project size: 5331 ft2
Completion date: 2016
Building levels: 3
The site plan solution located the L-shaped home along the edges of the site to engage the steeper slopes, allowing for the level center area of the site (where a previous home once stood) to remain open.
The L-shaped plan is extended by a brick garden wall that creates a backyard courtyard. The garden wall also becomes an organizing element that sets up the entry sequence and separates the entry walk from the backyard.
Once inside the house the longer leg of the “L” opens up to a casual family kitchen and living area. This plan solves the clients wish that “no one will see my kids toys or my kitchen from the front door!”
The long leg of the “L” utilizes the slope to allow for 3 levels- garage and guest room below, main living space in the middle, and bedrooms on top.
Another major theme of the house was to create the spirit of older homes that have been added onto over time, with a juxtaposition of materials and character. Modern versus traditional. Sleek versus textured. Open and flowing versus more well defined.
This general approach is used as a recurring theme throughout the home- not only as a reflection of the functions of the specific rooms, but also as a way to provide a character that is at once inventive and unique, but also echos more long held expressions of domesticity.
