South 5th Residence

The South 5^th Residence slips nonchalantly into Austin’s eclectic Bouldin neighborhood and deftly negotiates Austin’s zoning, envelope and critical-root-zone requirements.  A rare, 25" Durand Oak and an unexpectedly steep escarpment created a powerful circumstance for a house that emphasizes view and a dynamic spatial sequence, while at the same time being an abstract backdrop for the serendipity of light and circumstance.  The visitor arrives into a verdant courtyard under the majestic oak.  A thin, 4” gabion wall at the street, evergreen plantings and a perforated, Cor-ten corrugated screen to the south, provide varying degrees of privacy and animation for the ensemble.  A transparent living room hovers over the tumbling escarpment and reveals an expansive panorama.  The visceral textures of concrete, mill-finished steel and raw stucco are presented against finely detailed millwork and custom site-glazed window walls—which are framed with rift-sawn white oak and steel to form flitch plate mullions.

"The opacity in front giving way to the near-complete transparency beyond, is very innovative, as are the structural approaches to dealing with a difficult site." ~ Jury comment