Riley

I had the opportunity to be an intern at SHM for an extended time, and it was nothing short of spectacular. During this time, I was exposed to and worked on every aspect of SHM’s design process, which was much more than I could have hoped for. I am grateful for the entire SHM team and their investment in their interns to give us a truly enriching experience. Being a part of SHM gave me an opportunity to work on the kind of architecture that made me want to be an architect and it is an experience I will never forget. 

During the summer, when the other interns arrived, I was tasked with designing another SHM team member their own house in Argyle, Texas. The pre design process was spent getting to know the client, their needs, lifestyle, and what they are looking for in their home. From this pre design phase I learned that my client preferred Contemporary Texas Regional architecture with a strong emphasis on structure and would describe their future home to be sharp, clean, and thoughtful.

The final design of the home divided the program between three bars. The middle bar consisted of the public program which connected to the eastern bar that contained the private program. The western bar was detached from the main house which had the garage and the guest house. The stone, class, and steel materiality of the home captured the Contemporary Texas Regional style and allowed for the structure to be a focal point of the design. Main goals from the design were to create a more formal home, have strong interior and exterior relationships, provide a simple and efficient plan, emphasize the structure, and ultimately design a home that is sharp, clean and thoughtful. Ultimately, I was happy with the final results of the house, I only wished I had more time in the summer to take it even further. It was an honor to be able to present this project to the entire firm as it was a culmination of what I have learned in school as well as what I learned from my time at SHM.