Project Team: Spurgeon Sanders, Matt Davis, Collin Anderson

Approaching this project, I was excited to get to explore the Texas modernist vernacular movement brought about by Dallas architects like O'Neil Ford and Frank Welch and whose legacies are carried on by firms like SHM. This was encouraged by the client's wish for ample outdoor space and entertaining areas as well as an attraction to natural materials like stone and wood. These materials worked well with the site and the numerous mature Live Oak trees that fill it, and a goal of the project became to position and spread apart the house in such a way that all of the trees could remain. This spreading apart evolved into a house that turned inward and out, utilizing stone mass walls to frame views, create privacy, and tie together the collection of independent structures that are nestled among the trees. These structures house different functions of the home, from entertaining, to working, sleeping, and playing, and are connected through a covered pathway that slips along the ground, turning and widening at different points to frame views or create spaces to occupy. These elements work together to try to create a home that allows the owner to feel a sense of discovery and wonder through the movement of everyday life and of special moments, feeling at the same time both the beauty of nature and the comfort of home.